The old phrase about a flying feline and not “hitting” something most certainly applies to live theater in the greater metropolitan area these days — and “Cats” isn’t even one of the shows.
With eight shows in production and more to take their bows this week, the “Lesson” to be learned is “get thee to a theater.”
‘Small Craft Warnings’
With the annual Tennessee Williams and New Orleans Literary Festival soon to be focusing attention on the city’s favorite wordsmith March 25-29, thoughts turn to the playwright’s works that bring the ink to life.
The Tennessee Williams Theatre Co., in conjunction with the festival, mines the trove of treasures and brings to life “Small Craft Warnings” opening Friday (preview Thursday) through March 29 at the Lower Depths Theatre at Loyola University.
Celebrating its 10th season, the local ensemble performs one of Williams’ lesser-seen works about a foggy night in a bar called Monk’s Place and the people who populate the watering hole that evening.
“It’s a roller coaster filled with recognizable and relatable characters that feels different from so many Williams plays,” said Nick Shackleford, one of the festival’s founders. “There’s no Blanche DuBois in sight — just our friends, neighbors, favorite bartender … and maybe a little bit of ourselves.”
LaKesha Glover takes the role of Leona, reprising her role from the company’s first season. James Howard Wright is Monk and Robert Alan Mitchell is Doc, a role Williams himself played. Others include Leon Contavesprie, Quinn Lapeyrouse, Kevin Wheatley, Kelley Holcomb, Miles Hamauei and Benjamin Dougherty.
The show will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through March 29 at 6363 St. Charles Ave. Tickets start at $42. Visit twtheatrenola.com.
Heather Massie as Hedy Lamarr
‘Hedy!’
One of the more interesting stars in the Hollywood pantheon of the WWII years, Hedy Lamarr was much more than just a beautiful face. Besides being a refugee of the Nazis and an actress and producer, she was an accomplished scientist who helped Allied efforts.
That’s the subject of Heather Massie’s one-woman show, “Hedy! The Life & Inventions of Hedy Lamarr,” running Friday through Sunday at BB’s Stage Door Canteen at The National WWII Museum.
In the show, Massie recounts “the incredible story of genius inventor, mother of Wi-Fi, and Hollywood film siren … along with 35 other characters.
The Austrian native invented technology for torpedo guidance used in the war that has since been incorporated into cellphones, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth.
The show is at 7 p.m. Friday, 11:45 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday (and can include a buffet) and 2 p.m. Sunday at 945 Magazine St. Tickets start at $45. Visit nationalww2museum.org.
Dominique McClennan
Elizabeth McCoy
‘Dutchman’
Two characters create the exchange of themes of race, identity and societal expectations on New York subway in a show opening at Tulane University.
Amiri Baraka’s “Dutchman” was first produced in New York in 1964 and approaches issues through charged dialogue.
Dr. John “Ray” Proctor, director, said the show “demands that audiences reconsider the relationship between the academic and the space within that canon from which Blackness — and otherness — is far too often excluded.”
“We do this work to argue and lobby, not only for Baraka, but for the multiplicity and diversity that could be the canon of American literature,” he said. “‘Dutchman’ reaches into a moment in the collective American past and asks if anything has changed in the intervening 60 years.”
The cast features Elizabeth McCoy as Lulu, Dominique McClennan as Clay and Flynn K. Smith as Busker.
The show is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays and 2 p.m. March 23 and 29. Tickets start at $15. Visit purplepass.com/tulanetd.
‘A Lesson Before Dying’
Ernest Gaines’ novel based on the Louisiana executions of Willie Francis was crafted into a play by Romulus Linney and will be offered in a series of staged readings by the NOLA Project starting Friday.
Francis was convicted of killing a St. Martinville pharmacist in the 1940s and, as a 16-year-old, was sentenced to the state’s electric chair. But it didn’t kill him. He was later executed after a brief legal battle.
The staged reading is an extension of the NOLA Project’s education initiatives.
The story “asks us what dignity looks like in the face of injustice,” said Tenaj Wallace, artistic director. “By presenting this work in schools and community venues, we’re inviting audiences to engage with a history that remains painfully relevant, and to recognize literacy and education as acts of resistance, empowerment and reclamation.”
Taking roles will be Matt Armato, Martin “Bats” Bradford, Layah Chouest, Ja’Quan Henderson, Bruce Mohat, Lawrence J. Weber Jr. and Karen Williams.
The show will run at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the St. Charles Center for Faith + Action, 7100 St. Charles Ave., and Wednesday at Promise of Justice Initiative, 1024 Elysian Fields Ave. The readings are free with reservations at nolaproject.com.
‘The Nerd’
The story for “The Nerd” is rather strange. Willum Cubbert feels indebted to a fellow GI from Vietnam but has never met his savior. But for his upcoming birthday, the mystery man plans to show up. The problem is, he’s a nerd and an oaf and Willum can’t get rid of him.
The show at Mandeville’s 30 by Ninety Theatre is also a bit of a family affair.
Directed by husband-and-wife team Nino and Laurie Bonura Sr., the show also features son Nino Jr. as the title character. The Bonura connections to the show go even further, as Nino and Laurie met in high school and were in the show together.
Casey Jones plays Willum, with Lauren Price, Raleigh Ohlmeyer, Jason Leader, Lindsey Ehricht and George Ehricht also appearing.
The show opens Saturday and will run at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and at 2:30 p.m. Sundays through March 29 at 880 Lafayette St. Tickets start at $20. Visit 30byninety.com.
‘Always a Bridesmaid’
St. John Theatre in Reserve kicks off its new season Friday with a Southern comedy about lifelong friends who promise on prom night to be each other’s bridesmaids, even after 30 years.
With a backdrop of multiple nuptials, the show looks at friendship, love and matrimony.
Danielle Ordoyne directs the production, with Connie Powell, Cindy Grosse, Raynia Johnson, Lauren Michel, Janell Napier and Maggie Powell in the cast.
The show runs at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at 115 W. Fourth St. Tickets start at $13. Visit stjohntheatre.com.
Onstage this week, March 12-18
Luke Boucvault as Chad leads the company of Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts’ production of “All Shook Up” in the song “C’mon Everybody.”
“ALL SHOOK UP”: 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, plus March 19, and 2 p.m. Sundays through March 22; Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts, 325 Minor St., Kenner. A jukebox musical featuring the music of Elvis Presley and the story of a drifting guitar player, and what happens when he blows into a small town. Tickets start at $52. rivertowntheaters.com.
Cast members for Evangeline Theater’s production of ‘Catch Me If You Can’ include, from left, Emily Carmadelle, Zachary Van Zandt, Patricia Guevara and Sarah Chauppette Fontenot. The cast members are in the 13th Gate Escape Room that mimics an airplane. The show opens Thursday.
“CATCH ME IF YOU CAN”: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through March 22; Evangeline Theater Co., 2635 N. Causeway Blvd., Mandeville. The 2011 stage show based on Steven Spielberg’s 2002 movie, follows a young man with a talent for forgery and masquerade as he is pursued by an FBI agent who wants to make him pay for his crimes. Tickets start at $32. evangelinetheater.com.
“CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY”: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; Cutting Edge Center for the Arts, 767 Robert Blvd. Slidell. Young Charlie Bucket gets one of the magical golden tickets that offer a tour of the mysterious Willy Wonka factory. The cast of characters, from Wonka to the other kids on the tour, are as full of flavor as the chocolatier’s handiwork. And what happens to them is just as interesting. Tickets start at $35. cuttingedgetheater.com.
“DIAL M FOR MURDER”: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; Playmakers Theater, 19106 Playmakers Road, Covington. With plot twists and turns, Frederick Knott’s story, about a former tennis player who plots the demise of his wealthy wife, ran on Broadway and then Alfred Hitchcock made it into a film with Grace Kelly. Tickets start at $23. playmakersinc.com.
Princess Anna, left, is played by Melissa McKenzie and Micah Desonier is Queen Elsa in the Jefferson Performing Arts’ production of ‘Frozen: The Broadway Musical’ opening this week at Jefferson Performing Arts Center on Airline Drive in Metairie.
“FROZEN”: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday; Jefferson Performing Arts Center, 6400 Airline Drive, Metairie. Based on the 2013 Disney animated film that turned frostbite into a fashion statement, the 2018 Broadway show revolves around a pair of royal sisters, one cursed with the ability to freeze anything (including the entire country) and the other cursed with a loveable but naïve spirit that ends up getting her in trouble but saving the day. Tickets start at $39. jpas.org.
“GUYS AND DOLLS”: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through March 29, as well as a 2 p.m. show March 21; Le Petite Théâtre du Vieux Carré, 616 St. Peter St. From the sewers of the Big Apple to the hot spots of Havana, the show is a whirlwind of interesting characters and the power of love, filled with the colorful denizens of journalist Damon Runyon’s New York in the 1920s and ’30s. Tickets start at $82. lepetittheatre.com.
Isaiah Bailey is the phantom and Jordan Lee Gilbert ss Christine Daaé in ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ North American Tour coming to the Saenger this Friday.
“PHANTOM OF THE OPERA:” 7:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, 1 p.m. Thursday and Sunday, 2 p.m. Saturday; Saenger Theatre, 1111 Canal St. The touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s show, the longest-running in Broadway history, features the revitalized production that opened in London in 2021 by the original producer Cameron Mackintosh. Tickets start at $52. saengernola.com.
Rodina Harrison is ‘Mama’ Younger, Jeremiah Baham is her grandson Travis Younger and Melanie Banks is Ruth Younger in the Slidell Little Theater production of ‘Raisin in the Sun’ this week.
“A RAISIN IN THE SUN”: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; Slidell Little Theatre, 2024 Nellie Drive. A groundbreaking Broadway show from the 1950s, the story of the Younger family of Chicago still resonates as a tale of self-perception, discrimination, financial security and assimilation. In the show, the family has come into some insurance money, and how it is to be spent and how it eventually changes the family are central issues. Tickets start at $25. slidelllittletheatre.org.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com ’
