Stanley and His Demon at the New Marigny Theater thru January 12
In Stanley and His Demon, written and directed by Mariana Santiago for Poppet Theater (formerly Streetcar Collective for the Arts) at the New Marigny Theater through January 12, Stanley (Peat Wolf) is a vain and obnoxious huckster who runs a church where he fleeces people out of money by performing unnecessary exorcisms. His long-suffering wife and the first lady of the Church of Stanley, Esme (Mia Frost), seems to be the brains behind the operation and yearns to take over the church or, at least, be given more credit for her efforts.
In this two-act satire on religious hypocrisy, a demon (Lexi Parker) comes along and possesses Stanley, but it’s actually a good demon who is trying to reform the church and wants it to live up to the values it gives lip service to. With Esme’s help, the demon ousts Stanley from his pulpit and installs Esme as its head. Esme, however, doesn’t have the ability or charisma to manipulate people the way Stanley does. Santiago’s tale takes various twists and turns before Stanley and Esme wind up more or less where they started.
Julie Wakefield, Thugsy DaClown and Rel Farrar play dedicated members of the church’s congregation. Farrar also appears as an IRS agent who, with the demon’s help, gets Stanley arrested and in jail for cooking the church’s books. Looking very Old Testament-y, Thugsy also plays a truculent God who confronts Stanley. In smaller roles, Liz Johnston-Dupre and Avery Johnston-Dupre round out the cast. Talon Holmes and Chris Andrews created the lighting.
If you want to support community theater, by all means check out Stanley and His Demon before it closes.
[For tickets and more information, go to https://poppettheater.org/stanley/]
Curtain Up
Not surprisingly, with a relatively early Mardi Gras, there’s not quite as many things occurring on indoor stages as there are in the streets over the next six weeks, but here are some options if you just want to sit down and be entertained.
Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit takes the stage at Le Petit Theatre through January 25. This is the one about novelist Charles Condomine, his wife Ruth, the eccentric medium Madame Arcati, and the soignée ghost of his late wife, Elvira, in which a supernatural love triangle ensues. Ricky Graham directs and appears as Madame Arcati. [https://www.lepetittheatre.com/events/blithe-spirit]
Ghosts can also be found in Fat Ham. In this brilliant, Pulitzer Prize-winning dramedy, James Ijames has reconfigured Hamlet so that its marvelously dysfunctional family is no longer fighting over Denmark but, rather, a BBQ restaurant in the South. You don’t need to be familiar with Shakespeare’s melancholy Prince but it will add to your enjoyment as Fat Ham sticks to the basic outlines of the Bard’s most famous play.
The cast of Fat Ham
In Fat Ham, however, the protagonist becomes Juicy, a sensitive queer Black 20something who occasionally breaks into the original iambic pentameter, as Ijames examines toxic masculinity, sexuality, family loyalty and much more. Tenaj Wallace directs this NOLA Project presentation at Dillard University’s Cook Theater January 15-February 6. [https://www.nolaproject.com/fatham]
Speaking of the Bard of Avon, New Orleans Shakespeare Festival will bring back its summer 2025 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for one performance only on January 16 at Tulane’s Dixon Hall. If there’s nothing terribly new in the staging overall, I found that the play-within-the-play Pyramus and Thisbe was filled with insight and a touching depth of emotion. And with its fairies and magic and revelry, it’s the perfect lead-in to Mardi Gras. [https://neworleansshakespeare.org/products/a-midsummer-nights-dream-1]
(l.-r.) Robinson J. Cyprian, Robert Mitchell, Ian Hoch, Alexandria Miles, and John Jabaley in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Yet another demon shall trod the boards when Intramural Theater presents the world premiere of Somnotomy, which explores the surreal world of sleep, dreams, and the entities that haunt them. Between graveyard shifts at her family’s coffee shop in New Orleans, Jane Yardhauser is trapped in a nightly ritual with Tramfogor, a sentient sleep paralysis demon that takes the shape of her favorite rapper, Papa Star. When a freelance “sleep interventionist” offers to banish her demon, the boundaries between Jane’s sleep and waking life start to dissolve. Meanwhile, the café’s lone customer, her brother, and her neighbor start experiencing nightmares of their own.
Somnotomy, an original devised play, premieres at CANOA on January 17 and runs through January 26. The production, directed by Bennett Kirschner, features Steve Gilliland, Monica Harris, Ja’Quan Henderson, Topher Johnson, Mary Langley, and Sly Watts. [https://www.intramuraltheater.org/somnotomy]
Forget about demons–Hadestown gives you the King of the Underworld! The Tony-winning musical that intertwines two mythic tales–Orpheus and Eurydice, and King Hades & his wife Persephone–returns to the Saenger Theatre January 23-25. [https://www.saengernola.com/events/hadestown/]
Before that, however, something I’m really looking forward to will come to the Saenger. For one night only, January 15, Emmy Award-winner Richard (“John-Boy Walton”) Thomas appears in Mark Twain Tonight!, written and originally performed throughout the country by Hal Holbrook, who won a Tony for the part when it debuted on Broadway. Thomas is the first and only actor authorized to perform Mark Twain Tonight! since the original. I wonder what Twain would make of today’s politics. [https://www.saengernola.com/events/mark-twain-tonight/]
Richard Thomas in Mark Twain Tonight!
Following Hadestown, the critically acclaimed best-selling novel Water for Elephants comes to the Saenger as a spectacle-filled new musical February 3-8. After losing what matters most, a young man jumps a moving train unsure of where the road will take him and finds a new home with the crew of a traveling circus, and a life—and love—beyond his wildest dreams.
I’ve heard nothing but good things about Tony Award-nominated director Jessica Stone’s production which features a book by three-time Tony nominee Rick Elice adapted from Sara Gruen’s novel, and a score by the PigPen Theatre Co. [https://www.saengernola.com/events/water-for-elephants/]
I’m a sucker for all things tango, and the last time Germán Cornejo was in town, in 2022, I wrote such comments as “Amazing” and “Wowza” in my program. The choreographer returns to the Mahalia Jackson Theater on January 24 when The New Orleans Ballet Association presents Argentina’s Tango After Dark, which fuses the soul of Buenos Aires with the sophistication of the 21st century. Featuring dancers, vocalists, and a seven-piece live band, the production brings to life the music of Argentine legend Astor Piazzolla, whose evocative compositions combine melancholy passion and joyful exuberance. Can’t wait! [https://nobadance.com/performances/tango-after-dark/]
If you prefer some opera with your dance, Tchaikovsky’s rarely-performed opera Maid of Orleans, about Joan of Arc, comes to the Marigny Opera House, January 16-18, in a reimagined production by Bogdan Mynka This reduced 90-minute opera-ballet hybrid features local performers, original costumes & sets, and a 12-piece orchestra. “While Tchaikovsky’s opera is based on Schiller’s highly romanticized libretto, we’re bringing a more historically grounded interpretation to this production,” says Mynka, a tenor who will also appear in the role of King Charles VII. [https://marignyoperahouse.org/upcoming-events/verismo-opera-presents-the-maid-of-orleans/]
Uptown, Loyola Opera Theatre celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of American composer Carlisle Floyd with a production of his acclaimed opera Susannah on January 23 and 25. Floyd also wrote the libretto, an adaptation of the Apocryphal tale “Susannah and the Elders” reset in a small Tennessee mountain town. Susannah is one of the most performed American operas, and its message is as relevant today as when the work premiered in the 1950’s. [https://cmm.loyno.edu/events/jan-23-2026_loyola-opera-carlisle-floyds-susannah]
On the Northshore, another American opera will be done when Slidell Little Theatre presents Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, January 16-25 and February 6-8. This tale of a murderous barber seeking vengeance and a resourceful proprietress of a failing meat pie shop, started as a penny dreadful and can now be found in as many opera houses as music theaters. Gary Mendoza directs. [https://www.slidelllittletheatre.org/home]
Another Tony-winner can be seen on the Northshore when 30 by Ninety welcomes in 2026 with the timeless Kander & Ebb Weimar-era musical Cabaret (Jan. 17–Feb. 1). Jenn Gesvantner directs John Wesley (Emcee), Christina Ingrassia (Sally Bowles), and Jonathan Damare (Clifford Bradshaw) who head a cast of 20. [https://30byninety.com/shows/cabaret/]
And things don’t get any more Weimar-y than at Brechtfest VII, the seventh annual New Orleans celebration of the writings of German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht. This year’s iteration will take place February 3 and 4 at the Allways Lounge Twilight Room, and will include music, spoken word, and puppetry. [https://www.brechtfest.com/]
On to Mardi Gras!
