Curtain Up
The fall season has come upon us, and with it plays, musicals, and all sorts of things to keep us entertained through the Holidaze. Here are some of the upcoming events worth checking out.
On the occasion the of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, Jefferson Performing Arts is presenting Come From Away through September 20 at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center in Metairie. The musicalis based on the true story of when the isolated community of Gander, Newfoundland, was turned into an international sleepover, after 38 planes, carrying thousands of people from around the globe, were diverted to Gander’s airstrip on September 11, 2001. David Haydel directs and Blake Coheley choreographs a cast that includes Trina Beck, John Jabaley, Meredith Long, Keisha McKey, Meredith Owens, Scott Sauber, and Michael Smith. (https://www.jpas.org/performance/come-from-away/)
The Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans concludes its season with the rarely performed Something Cloudy, Something Clear. In this autobiographical meditation on desire, heartbreak, & the price of creation itself, a playwright is haunted by his past and revisits the brief summer he shared with a beautiful young dancer who changed his life forever. The last time Something Cloudy was done here, in 2004, it won a Best Director of a Play Ambie Award. Will this production be as good? Find out through September 27 at Loyola’s Lower Depths Theatre. (https://www.twtheatrenola.com/)
Flamboyants!, a work of documentary theater with music, explores the intersections of Creole culture and identity between geographically distant communities. On Réunion Island, while a cyclone rages, a man curses his name before throwing himself into the Indian Ocean. From Puerto Rico to New Orleans, Creole peoples then unite to teach him his true history in a work of musical theater that combines non-fiction and fiction.
The cast of Flamboyants! (photo by Cédric Demaison)
Flamboyants! features writer/director Florient Jousse as well as performers Frédéric Madia, Zélito Déliron, Ivelisse Diaz, Marién Torres López, and Big Chief Juan Pardo. Five languages will be spoken (supertitled in English), and nearly a dozen instruments will be played, fusing maloya, bomba, and Mardi Gras Indian songs. Flamboyants! appears at Tulane University’s Dixon Hall on September 25, along with performances of the off-shoot musical group Connexion on September 22 at the New Orleans Jazz Museum, and on September 23 at the LSU Faculty Club in Baton Rouge. (https://www.instagram.com/p/Dchfk8ki4zo/)
I Wrote A Song, a 2018 musical dramedy written and composed by Trey Bien, returns to the AllWays Lounge’s Twilight Room for four performances September 25 to October 5. Based on countless true stories, I Wrote a Song is just your average boy-meets-girl, boy-gets-married, boy-looks-at-gay-porn-becomes-a-Baptist-preacher-sneaks-off-to-bathhouses-gets-outed-in-disgrace-tries-a-conversion-camp-comes-out-anyway story. And it’s set to music.
Prince Octavian and Trey Bien in I Wrote a Song
Reviewing Song’s most recent outing in 2023, while I had some reservations about the book, I wrote that Bien’s “lush score is as good as some heard on Broadway these days; he knows how to craft a song with finesse.” Bien stars in this tale along with Prince Octavian, Laveau Contraire, Emily Ann Mohler, Kieva Banks, Patrick Smith, Nicholas Anthony Smith, Duali-Tease, Justin Betweener, and Peachy King. (www.TreyBienShows.com and www.AbsolutelyNotGay.com)
Aqua Mob, New Orleans’ first and only community-based water ballet ensemble, returns to The Midtown Hotel with 2001: An Odyssey Into the Deep. For its 9th production, Aqua Mob journeys where no swimmer has gone before with this aquatic operatic retelling of the classic 1968 film.
Terry Miles in 2001 — An Odyssey Into the Deep (photo by Caleb Breaux)
Written and directed by Cody Evans Gan, whose 2023 Carrie: Blood in the Water was an “evening of wild fun and athletic accomplishment” and was nominated for a Gay Appreciation Award Critic’s Choice Award, 2001 stars Terry Miles, Rebecca Poole, Cody Keech, and Evans Gan as HAL-9000, the nearly sentient creature who foreshadowed our current obsession with artificial intelligence. Featuring live music from local band The Kissing Disease, 2001: An Odyssey Into the Deep runs September 24-October 10…assuming the AI apocalypse doesn’t arrive first. (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2001-an-odyssey-into-the-deep-tickets-1997724185817)
One of the most acclaimed plays of the 20th century returns to NOLA when Fat Squirrel presents Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus. Directed by Andrea Watson and featuring Clint Johnson & Rahim Glaspy, this Tony and Oscar-winning drama explores the nature of creativity; it runs September 30-October 10 at CANOA in the Bywater. (https://fatsquirrelnola.square.site/)
Opening Le Petit’s 110th season, Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor was inspired by Simon’s own experiences toiling alongside the likes of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner as a young staff writer on Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows. This ensemble comedy depicts the harried group of television writers working frantically for the TV star Max Prince as they attempt to one-up each other with punchlines and gags; meanwhile, looming over them is the threat of network censorship compliments of Senator Joe McCarthy. Directed by Scott Burrell, Laughter runs October 1–18. (https://www.lepetittheatre.com/events/laughter-on-the-23rd-floor)
The WWII Museum’s Stage Door Canteen gives the NOLA premiere to Dear Jack, Dear Louise by Ken (Lend Me a Tenor) Ludwig. In it, when two strangers meet by letter during World War II, a love story begins. Whose love story? Ludwig’s parents, U.S. Army Captain Jack Ludwig, a military doctor stationed in Oregon, and Louise Rabiner, an aspiring actress and dancer in New York City. Starring Oriana Lada and Pete Winfrey, the play is directed by Risa Brainin, and will be performed October 2-11. (https://www.nationalww2museum.org/programs/ken-ludwigs-dear-jack-dear-louise)
Pete Winfrey and Oriana Lada in Dear Jack, Dear Louise
One of the fall season’s highlights is bound to be The Curse of the Mummy at the Greenway Station October 8-24. The NOLA Project gives the world premiere to Pete McElligott’s retelling of the ancient Egyptian tale, and I have every expectation that it will be every bit as imaginative and funny and theatrically wondrous as his two previous outings, Dracula and Frankenstein. Leslie Claverie directs Khiry Armstead, Emily Bagwill, Natalie Boyd, Arrianna Chai, Keith Claverie, PJ Ruffins, Matthew Thompson, and Alex Martinez Wallace. (https://www.nolaproject.com/mummy)
On the Northshore, Playmakers Theater’s 72nd season opens on September 19 with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. Christopher Durang’s Tony Award-winning comedy blends Chekhovian themes with modern-day family dysfunction as it follows middle-aged siblings Vanya and Sonia whose quiet life in a Pennsylvania farmhouse is upended by the arrival of their glamorous movie-star sister Masha and her young boyfriend, Spike, leading to a weekend of rivalry, regret, and absurd antics. Co-directed by Anna & Van Turner, Durang’s best, funniest and most moving play runs through October 4. (https://bontempstix.com/events/vanya-and-sonia-and-masha-and-spike-231901)
Just in time for Halloween, Mandeville’s 30 by Ninety Theatre presents Zombie Prom, a girl-loves-ghoul rock ‘n’ roll off-Broadway musical set in the atomic 1950s at Enrico Fermi High, where the law is laid down by a zany, tyrannical principal; pretty senior Toffee has fallen for the class bad boy; family pressure forces her to end the romance; and he charges off on his motorcycle to the nuclear waste dump. What happens when he returns glowing and determined to reclaim Toffee’s heart? Find out October 10-25 at 30 by Ninety. (https://www.30byninety.com/)
For more tricks and treats, head to Slidell Little Theatre for Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors October 16-25. When her sister Mina falls ill with a mysterious disease of the blood, Lucy Westfeldt and her fiancé, Jonathan Harker, enlist the help of famed vampire hunter Dr. Jean Van Helsing. Their hunt for the dangerous and sexy Count Dracula blends Bram Stoker’s legendary vampire tale with Mel Brooks, Monty Python, and The 39 Steps as five actors play over a dozen roles in this send-up of the literary classic, directed by Kylie Barnes. (https://www.slidelllittletheatre.org/)
Had there been a rock musical version of Bram Stoker’s novel (well, a good one), Tom Jones might have made a fine Count Dracula. While that was not to be, you can see the pop superstar at the Saenger Theatre on October 12. When I saw the now 86-years-young legendary Welsh singer at Jazzfest in 2023, I wrote “Tom Jones put on an unforgettable set, the best I saw at Jazzfest this year. Not only did he do his hits (It’s Not Unusual, What’s New Pussycat?, Delilah, Sex Bomb), but he also did dark, nihilistic songs by Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Leonard Cohen about mortality (I’m Growing Old, Not Dark Yet, One More Cup of Coffee, Lazarus Man) that well-suited his age and where his voice sits now. And he made the brilliant choice to encore with Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Strange Things Happening Every Day”. Don’t know what he has in store for the Saenger, but it would be unusual if it wasn’t fabulous. (https://us.atgtickets.com/events/tom-jones/saenger-theatre/)
Jones will be sandwiched between two Tony Award-winning musicals at the Saenger, Jersey Boys (Sept. 22-27) about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons (https://us.atgtickets.com/events/jersey-boys/saenger-theatre/), and The Lion King (Oct. 21-Nov. 8), Director Julie Taymor’s visually stunning retelling of the classic animated Elton John/Tim Rice movie musical. (https://us.atgtickets.com/events/disneys-the-lion-king/saenger-theatre/)
For a retelling of Euripides’ classic play The Bacchae, head to the Music Box Village November 12-22 for Kaleidoscope Theatre Company’s second production. Queer historian Quinn L. Bishop’s adaptation promises dancing, chanting, rhythm, music, and maybe a goblet of wine, all under the stars. Kaleidoscope Artistic Director Aaron Brewer helms this tale of gods punishing mortals that makes most horror movies look like benign after-school specials. (https://www.kaleidoscopetheatrecompany.com/)
Not sure about the chanting, but you should be able to find dancing, rhythm, music, and maybe a glass of wine (at intermission) at the Mahalia Jackson Theater when the New Orleans Ballet Association (NOBA) presents Pilobolus on October 17. Founded in 1971, this adventuresome dance company takes its name from a shape-shifting fungus, and can be counted on to provide beautiful images, acrobatic moves, and engrossing partnerings. (https://nobadance.com/performances/2026-pilobolus/)
Pilobolus
NOBA continues its season on November 14 with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, making its first New Orleans appearance in 15 years. Known for its distinctive sculptural beauty and technical precision, King’s choreography pushes the classical form to its furthest limits. (https://nobadance.com/performances/2026-alonzo-king-lines-ballet/)
And just in time for Halloween, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the longest-running theatrical release in cinematic history, returns to New Orleans on October 29 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for a screening of the film, in a new 4K restoration, preceded by a Q&A with Barry Bostwick, who starred as “Brad Majors” in this cult classic.
Audiences will have an opportunity to participate in a costume contest and interact with a live performance by the local Shadow Cast. They will be acting out scenes from the movie “live” on stage while the full, unedited film is shown behind them.
“It’s fun, noisy and rude and only exists today because of the dedicated fan base around the world,” said Bostwick, adding “Three generations of party goers have passed it down from one to another. It is a rite of passage from innocence to understanding and questioning!”
I suspect this year’s event (last year’s featured Nell Campbell who was “Columbia”) will be somewhat bittersweet due to the recent passing of Tim Curry, the original Dr. Frank-N-Furter, and expect that Bostwick will pay tribute to his co-star. (https://us.atgtickets.com/events/rocky-horror-picture-show/mahalia-jackson-theater/)
Happy Fall! Happy Theatergoing!! Let’s do the Time Warp!!!
