Curtain Up
Now that Mardi Gras is just a happy memory, it’s time for theater to move back indoors again. Through Easter, lots of shows will be debuting on local stages from Metairie to the Northshore to Chalmette. Hope you’ll be able to check out some–or all–of the following.
I vividly remember seeing The Colored Museum at the Public Theater in New York back in the 1980s and loving George C. Wolfe’s scathing satire of Black culture and history. Alas, that was the last time I saw this series of 11 “exhibits” that sends up everything from A Raisin in the Sun and For Colored Girls… to what conditions may have been like during the Middle Passage as Colored Museum has been too rarely revived.
The NOLA Project will be rectifying that February 22-March 9 when Torey Haward and Tenaj Wallace direct an immersive version of it at the New Orleans African American Museum in Treme. Unlike the original production which, if I recall correctly, employed a rotating set, here the audience will move from room to room to see the “exhibits”.
The cast of The Colored Museum
A nonet of folks I’ve admired over the years (Jordan Bordenave, Rahim Glaspy, Aria Jackson, April Louise, DC Paul, Pamela D. Roberts, Riga Ruby, Matthew Thompson, Lawrence J. Weber, Jr.) comprise the cast. More details and tickets available at https://www.nolaproject.com/tcm
If I haven’t admired the cast of Black Angels Over Tuskegee, coming to the WWII Museum’s Stage Door Canteen February 22-25, that’s only because this stop is part of a tour featuring non-local actors. The story, however, of six men embarking on a journey to become the first Black aviators in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, sounds fascinating as it explores the struggle of the Tuskegee Airmen who, in spite of overwhelming odds, overcame Jim Crow injustices and made history. Tickets and more info at https://www.nationalww2museum.org/programs/black-angels-over-tuskegee
Following Black Angels, the Stage Door Canteen presents The Diary of Anne Frank in a new adaptation of the classic story about eight people hiding from the Nazis in a concealed storage attic in Amsterdam (Mar. 14 – 24). Rachel Whitman Groves directs a cast that includes Lauren Wells, Elizabeth McCoy, Joel Hochman, and Tara Ampolini as Anne. (https://www.nationalww2museum.org/programs/diary-anne-frank)
Another Broadway classic, Gypsy: A Musical Fable, will be done by The Company: A St. Bernard Community Theatre at The Azienda Theatre in Chalmette from February 23 thru March 3. Don’t know too much about this production (though there’ll be “Complimentary wine & beer at every show”), but it’s always a pleasure to hear the Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim score which includes such classics as Everything’s Coming Up Roses, Together (Wherever We Go), You Gotta Get a Gimmick, Let Me Entertain You, and the volcanic Rose’s Turn. (https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/80313)
Another Tony nominee can be seen when Slidell Little Theatre (SLT) presents Next To Normal, opening February 23 and running until March 10. In it, Dad’s an architect, Mom packs lunches & pours cereal, and their daughter & son are bright, wise-cracking teens. And yet their lives are anything but normal because Mom has been battling bipolar disorder for 16 years. Like Gypsy, it’s as much musical drama as musical comedy. (https://www.slidelllittletheatre.org/)
SLT is also presenting Stephen Schwartz’s ebullient Godspell, March 21-24, which represents more typical musical comedy, well, until it gets to the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. (https://www.slidelllittletheatre.org/tickets/godspell-282720#buy)
Yet another Tony nominee can be seen when Le Petit Theatre puts on Beautiful, The Carole King Musical (Mar. 7-31). When Beautiful stopped at the Saenger Theatre in 2017, I found it “satisfying…interesting…a delight!”, and much more enjoyable than many other bio-jukebox musicals (an ever-growing sub-category of musical theater).
Of course, Beautiful comes with a plethora of great songs–Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Up on the Roof, One Fine Day, all by Gerry Goffin and King. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling from the Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil catalogue. And from Tapestry, King’s multi-Grammy-winning album, So Far Away, It’s Too Late, and You’ve Got a Friend. Plus many more. Jaune Buisson directs and choreographs, Jefferson Turner is the Music Director, and the cast features names familiar and new to me. (https://www.lepetittheatre.com/listings/events/beautiful-the-carole-king-musical)
If, rather than a former Tony nominee, you’d prefer to see something brand new, check out the latest from Goat in the Road Productions (GRP), Top 5 Survival Moves, a world premiere that will take place at the Contemporary Arts Center from March 8 – 17.
Top 5 Survival Moves is inspired by the story of Ukrainian-born New Orleanian Katya Chizhayeva, a dancer and acupuncturist. Chizhayeva is collaborating with GRP to create this new play about her work with soldiers in Ukraine, her experiences as an immigrant in the United States, and the ways that culture & identity change in the face of harsh conditions. Ms. Chizhayeva’s story is layered with moments of historical context, Ukrainian songs, and first-hand accounts from soldiers. All ticket sales from the show will benefit Ukrainian soldiers recovering from deployment. (https://cacno.org/performing-arts-2/untitled-ukraine-project)
The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company (TWTC) opens its eighth season with the great playwright’s Kingdom of Earth at Loyola University’s Marquette Theatre. The play follows the odyssey of Myrtle Kane (Rebecca Elizabeth Hollingsworth), an involuntarily retired showgirl as she is lured into a battle of wills between her strange new husband Lot (Benjamin Dougherty) and his menacing half-brother Chicken (Edward Carter Simon).
Benjamin Dougherty and Rebecca Elizabeth Hollingsworth in Kingdom of Earth (photo by James Kelley)
TWTC Co-Artistic Director Augustin J Correro directs Williams’ southern gothic thriller which takes place on a dark and stormy night with the nearby levee threatening to burst. Sound familiar? Kingdom of Earth runs March 8-24. (https://www.twtheatrenola.com/)
I’m not sure, but I suspect Tennessee Williams would’ve enjoyed TV’s beloved sitcom The Golden Girls; he might’ve enjoyed a drag version of it even more. You can decide on March 15 when Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue comes to the Saenger Theatre.
The cast of Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue (photo by Murray and Peter Present)
In it, Sophia (Christopher Kamm) is out on bail after being busted by the DEA for running a drug ring for retirees. Blanche (Vince Kelley) and Rose (Adam Graber) have founded CreakN, a thriving sex app for seniors. And Dorothy (Ryan Bernier) is trying to hold it all together with help from a new (much) younger sex-crazed lover. Just another day for the zany foursome, eh? (https://www.saengernola.com/events/golden-girls/)
Things are a little more serious on the Northshore as Mandeville’s 30 by Ninety Theatre presents A Few Good Men (Mar. 9-24), Aaron Sorkin’s story of a group of military lawyers assigned to defend two Marines in Guantanamo Bay who, in the course of the trial, uncover a high-level conspiracy designed to eliminate weaker soldiers in the name of patriotism. (https://30byninety.com/shows/a-few-good-men/)
Further north, in Covington, it’s back to comedy at Playmakers Theater with the Louisiana premiere of Murder at Weatherfield (Mar. 15-24), a farcical Agatha Christie spoof. As family members gather at the country estate of Lord Winthrop to learn about the changes in his will, Joe Starzyk’s whodunit reveals financial problems, marital issues, and family secrets. When it appears that Lord Winthrop has been murdered, everyone becomes a suspect.(https://playmakers-theater-05.webself.net/murder-at-weatherfield)
Jefferson Performing Arts Society’s (JPAS) production of Jesus Christ Superstar will play one performance on the Northshore on April 5 at Hammond’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts following five performances (Mar. 15-24) at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center in Metairie.
Michael Moore, who was nominated for a 2008 Ambie Award for Best Actor in a Musical for NOCCA’s production of Tommy, stars as Jesus along with Jake Wynn-Wilson, seen last year in The Bodyguard and in 2022 as the Prince in JPAS’ Cinderella, as Judas. As with Godspell, it all ends with the Last Supper and the Crucifixion, but along the way you’ll get to hear such Andrew Lloyd Weber numbers as I Don’t Know How to Love Him, Hosanna, and Superstar. (https://www.jpas.org/performance/jesus-christ-superstar/)
And two classics bookend the month of March.
NOBA (New Orleans Ballet Association) presents LAC, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo’s retelling of Tchaikovsky’s immortal Swan Lake on March 2 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater in its only scheduled U.S. performance. (https://nobadance.com/performances/monte-carlo/)
A scene from Les Ballets de Monte Carlo’s LAC
Also at the Mahalia Jackson Theater, New Orleans Opera continues its season on March 22 & 24 with Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, a tale drawn from an actual incident between two rival Scottish families in political opposition. It all builds to the climatic ‘mad scene’, which may be a harbinger of things to come in this election year. (https://neworleansopera.org/lucia-di-lammermoor/)
Varla Jean Merman’s Stand By Your Drag at Red Eye NY on February 24
[Daniel Nardicio presents Varla Jean Merman’s Stand By Your Drag at Red Eye NY for two shows on February 24. The following is my October 2023 review of it when it played at Cafe Istanbul.]
In July, I went to a Comedy Festival at the New Orleans Arena. Other than Tiffany Haddish, who was very funny, I laughed more at Varla Jean Merman’s Stand By Your Drag than all the other comics combined. Why hasn’t Ms. Merman yet gotten her own sitcom?
Stand By Your Drag, Varla’s (she really needs only one name) latest cabaret extravaganza, features the videos, the songs, the shtik that we have come to know and love her for. But it’s also something more. Its title is not merely a play on the iconic Tammy Wynette song, but a plea to support drag performers in these crazy times as multiple states have passed anti-LGBTQ laws in general and anti-drag laws in particular. As tho drag queens reading books to kids in a library was more dangerous than allowing anyone anywhere anytime to carry an unconcealed gun [insert eye-rolling emoji here].
So when Varla says she “had to use the Underground Railroad to get to [Provincetown] Massachusetts” from Florida, that’s not minimizing the route enslaved people used to get to the North, but acknowledging the very real threat that drag performers, particularly in Southern Red states, are now facing.
Of course, Stand By Your Drag offers more than political commentary, however vital it might be. Varla pokes fun at herself and last year’s “Tic-Taccident” with her opening number that reconfigures Sir Elton’s hit into “I’m Still Standing…Barely” with the invaluable Brian Johnston doing the terpsichorean work as the “Dancing Varla”.
The Dynamic Duo get more mileage out of the “Tic-Taccident” in another hysterical number with Brian (if I can call Varla by her first name, why not Brian too?) as a Tic-Tac box. Varla, ever gracious, gives a nod to Fatsy Cline whose skit at the 2023 Krewe of Armeinius Ball inspired it.
Varla’s timing is impeccable as she drolly assures us “I don’t do drugs” before waiting just the perfect number of seconds to add “every day”. Referring to herself as “a petite package of femininity” she namechecks everyone from Simone Biles to Hogan’s Heroes in “Your Drag Queen” which is accompanied by a snazzy video. After dancing her way thru the song, Varla may sound like an out-of-breath walrus, but trouper that she is, she keeps going.
The first part of Stand By Your Drag ends with what just might be the funniest doggie video ever; Varla’s game pooch Jasper stars in it to the tune of “I Will Survive.”
Varla Jean Merman and Jasper
If the shorter second act has a higher quotient of material on Florida’s political situation and drag queens, tending a tad towards the polemical, most of it funny, all of it fearless, we also get five more musical showstoppers, including “Everybody Wants a RuPaul Girl” (to the tune of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”) and “We’re Still Here”, a Sondheimesque tribute to drag queens from vaudeville to today.
Written by Jeffery Roberson, Jacques Lamarre, & Ricky Graham, and directed by Michael Schiralli, Stand By Your Drag filters Varla’s patented ditzy bitchiness through humor high and low to achieve brilliant lunacy. I’ll stand by that any day.
[For tickets and more information, go to https://www.redeyetickets.com/stand-by-your-drag/]