​First Night: Hamilton @ The Saenger Theatre
Review by Eileen Daley

Suffice to say that a lot of quill ink has been spilt by and about Hamilton - both the man, and the biographical hip-hop musical named for him. Opinions are sharply divided on both subjects. I'm not here to re-litigate the debates that swept Tumblr in the last decade, because quite frankly, neither I nor this website have the bandwidth.

It was clear to me, however, as I watched the touring performance stationed at the Saenger Theatre this week, that the viewing experience has changed significantly since it debuted off Broadway in 2015. The humor is a little more ironic, and so is the celebration of immigrants amidst our country's current mass deportation campaign. Perhaps counterintuitively, it made this fairy tale of the nation's founding even more appealing to lose myself in, if only for a night.

Another key difference, of course, was the touring cast who made the material and characters their own. Lin Manuel Miranda is a talented songwriter, but his originating of the title role was a perfunctory honor rather than, let's say, perfect casting (in other words, he hasn't got the range). By contrast, it was a real treat to watch Tyler Fauntleroy bring down the house of representatives as the starring lead.

The whole supporting cast was fantastic, but I particularly enjoyed the Biggie-like gravitas that A.D. Weaver brought to George Washington. The role of mad King George III is often a scene-stealer, and Justin Matthew Sargent was no exception when he got the whole theatre singing along as his backup vocalists. Beyond the principal cast, the ensemble dancers were flawless, and I was surprised how integral they were to the enjoyment of the whole production. They served as key visual interpretation of the rapid-fire lyrics, dazzling production design against a mostly static backdrop, and were just a whole effing vibe unto themselves.

The show's score (and only its score; there's no rhythmless dialogue at all in the show) is incredibly impressive with what it accomplishes. To put the following enthusiasm into context, I've never been a Hamilton girly like that; there were many fans in the audience who had every word memorized, and I'm happy for them (though maybe it's a problem that I could tell that from a distance)! But watching it live for the first time, I was blown away at the complexity of the music.

Each character has a distinctive flow, and many have musical motifs that repeat through multiple songs, giving the whole show a satisfying cohesion. This would be a triumph on its own, but the fact that they're rapping about constitutional compromise in a way that's accessible to audiences of all ages is another feat entirely.

Alexander Hamilton (the man) and New Orleans (the city) happen to have a lot in common. They are both of Creole descent, and their resilience was tested by a hurricane - or two dozen - in their youth. Most importantly, they put their trust and support in their fellow man, for better or worse. The sense of community in this show and its audience is enough to make you consider that the great experiment of American democracy might stave off its doom after all.

Hamilton is playing at The Saenger Theatre through April 20th - click here for information and ticketing

Mister Mao's Family-Style Brunch For Two is now available permanently. For $50, you can enjoy a family style feast featuring six courses (see above). This is for two guests, dine-in only. No substitutions (menu subject to change). 

 the Mid-City restaurant has just introduced dinner and Happy Hour. Available Monday through Saturday, additional hours follow: Happy Hour: 4 PM - 6 PM /  Dinner: 5 PM - 9 PM
 
For dinner, guests can dishes that pay tribute to Araujo’s Honduran roots while highlighting the spring bounty of Louisiana. In addition to a variety of oysters, available by the half-dozen or dozen, dinner offerings include Pato en Recado Rojo – confit duck leg served over a red, spicy pasta and topped with sesame seeds, pickled golden raisins, and local wild herbs; Pescado Ceibeno – local Gulf fish deep-fried and accompanied by moros y cristianos, tostones, and escabeche; Aguachile Rojo, featuring Gulf shrimp and scallops with avocado, red onion, English cucumber, and black garlic; and New York Ribeye accompanied by locally sourced oyster mushrooms and a rich port wine reduction sauce. 
 
Happy hour has discounted sips ($6 - $10),  with specialty cocktails including  Alma Rum Punch, Bee’s  Knees, and Spicy Margarita, along with s well-brand highballs and draft beer. Happy Hour bites ($6-$35) include Salty Girl Raw or Charbroiled Oysters; Alma Burger; New England Style Lobster Roll; and Anafre Hondureno – refried beans, mozzarella, chorizo and totopos served in a hot skillet.  
 
Alma Mid-City is located at 301 North Carrollton Avenue in New Orleans. Brunch is served daily from 8 AM – 3 PM; Happy Hour takes place  Monday - Saturday, 4 PM - 6 PM; and dinner is available Monday through Saturday, from 5 PM to 9 PM.  For more information and to make a reservation, visit www.eatalmanola.com

READ OUR REVIEW OF ALMA CAFE HERE!

​Billy Elliott: The Musical @ JPAS
Review by Dorian Hatchett

Set in the backdrop of the 1984 Miners’ strike in County Durham, North East England, an eleven year old boy thwarts his blue-collar roots and ignites not only a personal revolution, but joins in a social one too, as he changes the entire town’s outlook on its own patriarchal beliefs.  

Based on the 2000 British coming of age film of the same name, Billy Elliott: The Musical premiered in London’s West End in 2005, and ran all the way through 2016, amassing a prodigious four Lawrence Olivier Awards, and then ten Tony Awards for the American Production.  The score was written by Elton John, with the book and lyrics by Lee Hall.  

Jefferson Performing Arts presents a brilliant rendition of the show.  In a world where gender roles and expectations are nigh incontrovertible, the fight of one young boy to be who he wants to be, despite enormous social pressure, seems impossible. 

A family of hard bitten coal miners struggles with union strife and constant pressure to do the right thing while young Billy struggles to find his place in the world.  Billy (played by the charming and talented Charlie Stover, whose cast bio reads like the IMDB of an actor thrice his age) doesn’t want to be a revolutionary. He wants to simply be and no amount of bullying by adults who don’t understand him will stand in his way.  

Billy’s father Jackie (played by Louis Dudossat) is a world-weary widower who wants to do right by his family, but is trapped by his own preconceived notions of masculinity. He’s a relatable everyman, driven to the brink by the stress of the union strike and by his own grief. His grandmother (Meredith Long-Dieth) is supportive and loving and seems to be spiraling out into a world of her own memories. 

Mrs. Wilkinson (Leslie Castay) is the dance teacher who will go toe to toe with the miners to get Billy his day in the sun. The ghost of his dead mother (Candice Moses) shows up to give him guidance when everything seems to be coming apart. His best friend Michael (Parker Portera-Dufrene) is the feckless cohort every child deserves, and his brother Tony (Logan Breaux) rounds out the family with the unending angst of the almost-grown.    

With fanciful choreography and a dynamic set, it’s hard not to get lost in the story of the boy who defied the odds to make it all the way to the Royal Ballet.  

Billy Elliott: The Musical Runs through April 6th at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center.  

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​Orpheus Descending @ The Marquette Theatre
Review by Dorian Hatchett

It’s easy to run out of superlatives when you’re writing about the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company. Opening Night of its Tenth season, and I could have been excited to watch these artfully casted actors read the phone book.  

What I got though, was a performance that left me at times bereft, ashamed, exalted, and with just enough comedic timing to question the intentions of a supposedly just God. Tennessee Williams wrote a direct line to the complex and conflicted soul of man, and with Orpheus Descending, what I saw on stage was a three hour seance; an invocation of the master playwright’s spirit.

A reworking of one of his earlier plays, Orpheus Descending premiered on Broadway in 1957. The scene is set in a mercantile in an unnamed southern town. The townsfolk bandy about casual vulgarity, gossiping about each other and the events of their lives both banal and salacious in equal measure. They are small town personified, lacking any kind of empathy for anyone they consider “other” and instead, tallying the traumas in the lives of others as though their witness validates their small-mindedness.  

Valentine Xavier (played by Benjamin Dougherty) is the force of nature that upsets the delicate balance of two-faced pandering, as the traveling musician takes a job in the town dry goods store. The owner Lady Torrance (Leslie Claverie) is a first generation American who has resigned herself to a life simply survived, and in meeting and getting to know Valentine, gets to feel the discomfort and elation of a mind expanded.  

The everyday miseries of a loveless marriage and being the focus of the local rumor mill have worn her down to a shell of a person and seeing the potential for a life well lived, she cannot continue in what she recognizes as her past, opting to face a new life and a new future no matter what the cost. In true Greek tragedy fashion, the third act of the play coalesces in cruelty rather than redemption, and the story of Orpheus and Eurydice is complete.  

Williams consistently writes excellent supporting roles, and Carol Cutrere (Charlie Carr) is no exception. A free-wheeling spirit whose excesses bring shame to her family, she floats in and out of the action, refusing to go where she’s told out of a drive for exploration, or maybe just a contrarian streak.

She talks often of New Orleans, and one might posit that she represents the soul of unbound vice that the city reputation carries across the south. Carol’s soliloquy “the Fugitive Kind” closes the show on a note of heartache, interrogating the value of an unexamined life and the questions we choose not to ask ourselves.  

Orpheus Rising runs through April 13th at the Marquette Theatre at Loyola University. 
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