New shows, old shows and even a TV show make their marks at metro area playhouses as summer swings into gear with musicals, merriment and mayhem. From Tennessee Williams to Walt Disney, the stage is a “big world” in the coming days.
‘The Rose Tattoo’
The Tennessee Williams Theatre Co. delves into the story of Williams’ affinity for all things Italian through his unique vision of how worlds intersect and often dissolve in the light of day in the staging of “The Rose Tattoo,” which will preview July 23 and run July 24 to Aug. 9 at Loyola University’s Marquette Theatre.
Director Augustin J. Correro said the show “was Williams’ love letter to his longtime partner (Frank Merlo) and to Italy and the Italian people. It’s bursting with warmth, humor, sensuality, and contradiction — like any passionate romance.”
Correro, he co-founding artistic director of the company, added, “The play is so delightfully silly and over-the-top that it’s almost operatic, while remaining deeply human and emotionally relatable.
“In the play, as in life, we’re all clowns from time to time.”
Kristin Witt plays the Sicilian widow Serafina Delle Rose, living somewhere in Mississippi with her daughter, who deifies her late husband, in spite of his all-too-human foibles. Sheltering herself and her daughter, played by Lauren Van Mullem, she begins to come out with the arrival of another truck driver named Alvaro, played by Nick DiJulio.
The show blends passion, comedy and hope in the Tony-winning show that “reminds us that grief and joy are never as far apart as we think,” said company co-founder Nick Shackleford. “At its heart, this is a play about rediscovering life after unimaginable loss. It’s funny, sensual, deeply moving, and, perhaps more than any other Williams play, leaves audiences believing in the possibility of renewal. That’s a story worth telling right now.”
The cast also features Quinn Lapeyrouse, Alex Martinez Wallace, Daphne Armbruster, Adam Breaux, Desiree Burrell, Lalanya Gunn, Kelley Holcomb and Kalimah Williams, with Gwendolyn Foxworth and Janet Shea.
Tickets start at $45. The show is at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays at 6363 St. Charles Ave. Visit twtheatrenola.com.
‘Mary Poppins’
“Practically perfect in every way.” That’s the way Mary Poppins’ magical measuring tape sums up the British nanny everyone has grown to love. The River Region Drama Guild brings the high-flying Disney character to life Friday through Sunday.
Based on the Oscar-winning movie, the Tony-winning stage show features many of the same songs, including “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Let’s Go Fly A Kite” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.”
‘Mary Poppins’ follows a turn-of-the-last-century proper British family (he’s a banker, she’s a suffragette), their uncontrollable children and a mystical nanny who arrives on the scene to put everything to rights … just maybe not exactly as one might think.
The show will run at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Lafon Performing Arts Center, 275 Judge Edward Dufresne Parkway, in Luling. Tickets start at $15. Visit lafonartscenter.org.
‘Cabaret’
The Company: A St. Bernard Community Theatre sends out a big willkommen as it travels to pre-World War II Germany and Berlin’s Kit Kat Club for “Cabaret,” Kander and Ebb’s story of love, resilience and the impending cataclysm that waits.
With bawdy numbers and heartfelt anthems, the show is packed with familiar tunes, including “Cabaret,” “Willkommen” and “The Money Song.”
The multiple Tony-winning show focuses on Sally Bowles, a Brit expat who performs at the club, with the emcee leading the ensemble of players.
Jorden Majeau is the emcee and Arianna D’Antonio is Bowles, with Michael Chandler as the American writer Clifford Bradshaw. Other cast includes Roxanne Gray/Jennifer Landry, Charles Reaves, Marc Lewallen, Felicity White, Trisha Allon, Harley Crowe, Vieta Collins, Jada Brown, Darlene Stofira, Roshard Hooper, Eli Geeting, Ellis Callahan, Bob Mendel, Greg Nacozy, JJ Lloyd and Kit Kat Club waitresses Rachel Carderara, Jane D’Antonio, Shana Powers and Mary Collins.
The show runs at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at 800 W. Judge Perez Drive in Chalmette. Tickets start at $15. Visit cur8.com for tickets.
‘Gilligan’s Island the Musical’
A three-hour tour turned into gold for Sherwood and Lloyd J. Schwartz when their rag-tag group of castaways become a television sensation and now a musical.
“Gilligan’s Island the Musical” at Playmakers Theater in Covington distills much of the mirth and madcap merriment that made the 1960s show such in-demand watching.
The premise features the seven main characters who discover ancient cave drawings foretelling a legend. Well, this is “Gilligan,” and so there’s a storm, foiled rescue plans and even an other-worldly encounter.
David Thursh directs with Shane Carter as Gilligan, Vince Boston as the Skipper, Maggie Lawshe as Ginger, Aisha Sofia Johnson as Mary Ann and Christian Gray as the Professor.
The show is at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through July 26 at the theater at 19106 Playmakers Road. Tickets start at $23. Visit playmakersinc.com.
In production July 16-22
Beau Moss, Kerry Lambert and Nina Ballon hold up ‘Legally Blonde’ title character Elle played by Victoria Ventura for the upcoming production at Kenner’s Rivertown Theater for the Performing Arts.
“LEGALLY BLONDE:” 7:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday; Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts, 325 Minor St., Kenner. When a vivacious, rich, California sorority girl gets dumped by her East Coast snob boyfriend, she makes it her business to not only learn the law. She rescues the day, finds out she deserves “so much more” and saves a woman from getting railroaded in court. Tickets start at $52. rivertowntheaters.com.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com ’
