Trodding the Boards

Exhausted Paint: The Death of Van Gogh at Big Couch October 8-18 [Exhausted Paint: The Death of Van Gogh played at UNO in 2022. Fat Squirrel will be presenting the production directed by Carly Stroud and again featuring Drew Stroud at Big Couch October 8-18. The following is an excerpt from my March 2022 “An Appreciation” of Drew Stroud (as well as another young … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards – October 1, 2025

Curtain Up Now that the curtain has come down on the performance art event known as Southern Decadence, it’s time to return indoors, most of the time, for more traditional (most of the time) theatrical events. In Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson, Apt. 2B, playwright Kate Hamill transforms Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic detective duo into a pair of modern-day, female roommates … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards September 4, 2025

2025 Critics’ Choice Gay Appreciation Award winner On behalf of Tony Leggio and myself, I am delighted to announce that the winner of this year’s Critics’ Choice Gay Appreciation Award (GAA) is Summer Lyric Theatre’s production of Anything Goes, Cole Porter’s bubbly 1934 musical that Director Ken Goode made as fresh as a daisy aided by Jauné Buisson’s goose-bump inducing … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards August 22, 2025

The Crucible at Big Couch through August 14 In the past 23 years, there’s been two Broadway revivals of Arthur Miller’s modern classic The Crucible yet, to the best of my knowledge, no productions by local companies, and possibly even longer than that (university and high school productions notwithstanding). I’m not sure why that’s the case (the large cast it requires, its … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards August 9, 2025

A Midsummer Night's Dream at Tulane’s Lupin Theater through July 27 A mere two years after The NOLA Project Gave us a most magical Dream in City Park, To the Tulane Shakespeare Festival’s current Dream, I must object Not just because its stage, when Fairies dwell upon it, is often too, too dark, But, rather, because it tells us nothing terribly new, Its cast members unable … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards July 25, 2025

Critics’ Choice Gay Appreciation Award On behalf of Tony Leggio and myself, I am pleased to announce the nominees for the Critics’ Choice Award that will be presented as part of the 35th Gay Appreciation Awards (GAA). They are: Alice by Heart presented by Loyola University, Department of Theatre Arts and Dance Anything Goes produced by Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards July 9, 2025

Critic’s Notebook Summer Lyric Theatre (SLT) presented a near perfect production of A Chorus Line at Tulane’s Dixon Hall recently (June 19-22); it probably would’ve been perfect had not some of the mylar on the panels standing in for rehearsal hall mirrors gotten distractingly scrunched up (at least at the performance I attended; I trust that was corrected for the rest of … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards June 27, 2025

The Imaginary Invalid at Tulane’s Lupin Theater through June 22 Want to go see a doctor or two especially when they're likely to be a quack? Of course not! Unless, that is, they're on stage at Tulane’s Lupin Theater for the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival’s (NOSF) production of The Imaginary Invalid. In fact, there's not even any need for insurance to ensure a grand … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards June 20, 2025

Clown Bar 2 at The AllWays Lounge through June 6 If you’re looking for a romantic clown comedy murder mystery musical--and who isn’t these days?!--head to The Twilight Room at The AllWays Lounge for The NOLA Project’s production of Adam Szymkowicz’s Clown Bar 2. It’s a follow-up to the playwright’s Clown Bar, which NOLA Project produced 10 years ago, and, rather than try … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards June 6, 2025

Tiny Beautiful Things at Loyola's Marquette Theater through May 25 Dear Sugar – As you may know, Crescent City Stage is presenting Nia (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) Vardalos’ adaptation of “your” book Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar (written, of course, under your real name of Cheryl Strayed) at Loyola University's Marquette Theater through May … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards May 16, 2025