Trodding the Boards

The Year in Review When I reviewed 2016, the Anthony Bean Community Theater had discovered it needed more funds than expected to renovate its new location on Paris Avenue. After years without a permanent home, Southern Rep had just commenced an arduous journey to turn the long-vacant former St. Rose de Lima Church on Bayou Road into the Bayou Treme Center. Both situations … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards

An American in Paris at the Saenger Theatre, Jan. 30–Feb. 4 [I had seen An American in Paris on Broadway in March 2016; that production comes to the Saenger later this month. Below is my review, slightly edited, that ran in April of that year.] With its classic story and gorgeous Gershwin songs, it’s hard not to like the stage version of An American in Paris. But with … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards

Peter and the Starcatcher at Slidell Little Theater through Feb. 4 When I saw Peter and the Starcatcher on Broadway in 2012, I found the first act, set amid dreary workhouses and the dank holds of ships, overly dark and, worse, a gobful of exposition slowed it to a tedious crawl as we met a Lord, his daughter, her nanny, some nasty sea captains and their henchmen, a preening … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards

Always . . . Patsy Cline at The WWII Museum’s Stage Door Canteen, Feb. 23–Mar. 25 [This production returns for weekend performances with Margaret Belton and Caroline Fourmy reprising their roles. Here are excerpts from my review which originally ran in March 2015.] In the past five years, the WWII Museum’s Stage Door Canteen has put on an impressive number of entertaining … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards