Powerful plays, splashy musicals and a ballet with elements of Verdon and Fosse are set for the stages of New Orleans this week.
It well could be time to “depend on the kindness of strangers” and see a show (or two) and enjoy the vibrant theatrical spring of the Crescent City.
‘The Great Gatsby’
A scene from the Broadway production of ‘The Great Gatsby,’ coming to the Saenger Theatre.
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s epic tale of lavish living, love and loss comes to life in a toe-tapping tour de force at the Saenger Theatre.
For many high schoolers, the story of wealth and wonder in the years between the two world wars was required reading. And there are plenty of parallels between the author and the character.
But the story blossoms with a bang as a lavish musical as the Jazz Age of bootlegging, flappers and eye-popping parties gets the Broadway treatment as told by the narrator character Nick Carraway, with music and lyrics by Grammy winner Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen. The show continues to run at the Broadway Theater in New York.
Jake David Smith
But New Orleanians have a chance to see the show, with Jake David Smith in the title role. And while this is the first “visit” for Gatsby to the Canal Street theater, the same doesn’t hold true for the actor. His first visit to the Saenger had him in the epic “Les Misérables” as Marius in 2024.
“I’m excited to be back,” said Smith, who looks forward to showing something of himself as he presents the bon vivant to local theater audiences.
“I like to think of Jay Gatsby as the personification of hope,” he said. “I try to be an optimist and lead with hope in my everyday life.
“He (Gatsby) also has a tendency go overboard when he’s nervous and overcomplicate things, and if I’m being honest, I do as well.”
While Gatsby has a way of doing things in a, well, larger-than-life sort of way, that drive also has a place in Smith’s artist skill set, which will serve him well onstage.
With twists and turns, romance and intrigue meet grandeur and condescension in a timeless tale that harkens as much to the present as to Fitzgerald’s age.
The show is visually interesting as well with glitzy costumes, glamorous stage numbers and stage projects.
The show is at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through March 28, with a 2 p.m. matinee March 28 and shows at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday at 1111 Canal St. Tickets start at $39. Visit saengernola.com.
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’
Patrick Nicks is Stanley, Lauren Guglielmello is Stella and Jaclyn Bethany is Blanche in the Irene Collective’s production of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ opening this weekend.
The fragile world of Blanche DuBois takes an unintended excursion away from reality in Tennessee Williams’ classic “A Streetcar Named Desire” by the Irene Collective opening Thursday at Big Couch.
The show is being held in conjunction with the Tennessee Williams and New Orleans Literary Festival.
Williams’ iconic story of a Southern woman teetering on the edge of sanity looks at the arrival of Blanche to her sister Stella’s home in New Orleans (taking a streetcar named “Desire” to get there). Personal tragedies have befallen Blanche, and Stella’s rough-and-tumble hubby, Stanley, isn’t happy about his sister-in-law’s arrival or her condition. Tensions rise in the Crescent City heat as Blanche travels further from reality.
Jaclyn Bethany plays Blanche and Lauren Guglielmello is Stella. Patrick Nicks is Stanley. Other performers include Justin Davis, Amy Le, KC Simms, Gil Angelo Anfone, Malik Elrod, Vanessa Curtis, Robert Hughes and Todd Voltz. Bethany and Hanna Hall direct the production.
The collective, a female-focused theater company, is named after Irene Selznick, who was the original Broadway producer for “Streetcar.”
The show runs most days at 7:30 p.m. through April 3, with an added 1 p.m. matinee March 29 at 1045 Desire St. No performance March 23, 24 or 30.
Tickets start at $25. Visit streetcarnola.net.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Hubbard Street Dance performs works by Bob Fosse at Mahalia Jackson Theater on March 21.
New Orleans Ballet Association brings back the dynamic company with an evening of works that salute Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, with elements of Beyoncé and works from Spanish choreographer Nacho Duato, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s Matthew Rushing and more.
The performance, part of the association’s season, will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts in Armstrong Park.
From “Sweet Gwen Suite” and “Percussion IV,” the relationship between dancer/choreographer Fosse and dancer/wife Verdon is a unique and powerful connection that influences contemporary and theatrical dance to this day.
Other works highlight “contemporary voices shaping dance today,” a sophisticated international program that explores elements from Afro-Cuban influences to the relevance of dance.
Tickets for the performance start at $32. For information, visit nobadance.com.
‘Little Shop Of Horrors’
And suddenly, Seymour, it’s time for a musical at Loyola University about a plant … that sings … and eats people. And it opens Thursday.
“Little Shop of Horrors” follows the strange happenings of Seymour Krellborn, a lowly clerk in a Skid Row flower shop who secretly dreams of a relationship with beautiful yet masochistic co-worker Audrey, who’s dating a sadistic dentist. Things start going very bizarrely when Seymour gets a strange new plant that’s actually from outer space and thrives on human blood. With a trio of wise-cracking singers reminiscent of the girl groups of the ’50s and ’60s, the show is full of peppy music, weird happens and a strange ending that must be seen.
Produced by the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance, the show features such memorable tunes as “Somewhere That’s Green,” “Skid Row” and “Mean Green Mother from Outer Space” by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and “The Little Mermaid”). The show is directed by Loyola alumnus Monica R. Harris.
The show runs at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays, plus Wednesday, and at 2 p.m. Sunday at Marquette Theater, 6365 St. Charles Ave. Tickets start at $20. Visit cmm.loyno.edu.
‘Two Elizas’
Jenny Mercein
The Hermann-Grima House in the French Quarter will host performances of a production about the struggle of mothers spanning generations when local writer and actor Jenny Mercein returns in “Two Elizas” running Thursday through Sunday.
Mercein, a Tulane University associate professor, has created a story about her ancestor Eliza Mercein Barry and her 1847 Supreme Court case establishing child custody rights for women. The solo performance provides a comparative look at Mercein of the past and the Mercein of the present.
Lori Elizabeth Parquet and Ryder Thornton direct the production.
Performances are at 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday at 820 St. Louis St. Tickets start at $35. Visit hgghh.org.
Onstage this week, March 19-25
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. Thursday to Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; 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. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; 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.
Dominique McClennan
Elizabeth McCoy
“DUTCHMAN”: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and Wednesday, 2 p.m. Sundays March 29; Tulane Department of Theatre & Dance, Lab Theatre, 104 McWilliams Hall, 70 Newcomb Circle. Two characters create the exchange of themes of race, identity and societal expectations on the New York subway. Tickets start at $15. purplepass.com/tulanetd.
“GUYS AND DOLLS”: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays plus 2 p.m. March 21, 3 p.m. Sundays through March 29; 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.
The cast of ‘The Nerd’ at 30 by Ninety with Nino Bonura Jr., center, as the title character.
“THE NERD”: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Sundays, through March 29; 30 by Ninety Theatre, 880 Lafayette St., Mandeville. 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. Tickets start at $20. 30byninety.com.
LaKesha Glover
“SMALL CRAFT WARNINGS”: 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays through March 29; Lower Depths Theatre, Loyola University, 6363 St. Charles Ave. The Tennessee Williams Theatre Co., in conjunction with the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival, presents the one-act dark comedy about a foggy night in a bar called Monk’s Place and the people who populate the watering hole that evening. Tickets start at $42. Visit twtheatrenola.com.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com ’
