FIRST NIGHT REVIEW: JOE & MARILYN: A LOVE STORY @ WESTWEGO PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Review by Todd Perley Of Marilyn Monroe’s three marriages and affairs, her liaison with Joe DiMaggio had the longest run, and perhaps the strongest connection. Joe & Marilyn follows the relationship between the Yankee Clipper and the Blonde Bombshell from the night they met, through their marriage, their divorce, and up until her death a decade after it all began (I assume that’s not a spoiler?). It was DiMaggio who came to her aid, post-divorce, when she was briefly institutionalized, and he organized her funeral, and kept it small and intimate. The play even alleges they were flirting with the idea of getting remarried (because that works well, as Taylor and Burton demonstrated some years later...). DiMaggio’s career when he met Marilyn was on the wane. Recently retired from baseball, he was still wildly famous as being the MVP of...sheesh, all time, right? And while Monroe’s career had already begun its trajectory when they met, her star was on the rise, as his was relegated to publicity shots and appearances. This must have tweaked his 1950s nose in a decade which frowned upon the wife being the main breadwinner, and his frustration and jealousy is hinted at, and physical abuse briefly alluded to. Mid-century sex roles, compounded with hounding public scrutiny of every move of the hyper-famous couple likely played a role in turning the marriage into a doomed crucible. Speaking of crucibles, her subsequent marriage to playwright Arthur Miller fared even worse. Through Willard Manus’s writing, Janet Shea’s direction, the standout performances of Jonathan Mares and Sarah Colbert Cutrer dive deep and lovingly into the character. Joe & Marilyn does not read as a tragedy, despite its ending with Marilyn’s overdose. Mares and Cutrer have undeniable chemistry in this two-hander - they bear up extremely well, carrying the heavy load of a decade-plus recap of a tumultuous, but mutually caring, and beautiful relationship. Mares conveys equal amounts of tenderness and frustration, while Cutrer is as sexy, intelligent, and layered as Monroe’s own performances. Our heroes are definitely batting a thousand here. Joe & Marilyn plays the Westwego Performing Arts Theatre through 23 March - click here for information and ticketing. Sign up for your free, weekly, curated guide to arts and culture in New Orleans: Alon Shaya presents a March 26 dinner at Miss River, celebrating the legendary Jacques Pépin as he turns 90. This will be Jacques Pépin Foundation's first (and only) event in New Orleans as part of its 90/90 series, which honors Chef Pépin's milestone birthday and prolific 75-year career as an educator and chef.
 WHO/WHAT: James Beard Award-winning Chef Nina Compton invites guests to an exclusive book launch and dinner celebrating her highly anticipated new cookbook, Kwéyòl / Creole: Recipes Stories and Tings from a St. Lucian’s Chef Journey, on sale to the public on April 1, 2025.
Written by Chef Compton with author Osayi Endolyn, Kwéyòl / Creole is the story of her thrilling culinary journey from St. Lucia to Jamaica, Miami, and New Orleans and explores the cuisines and places that have shaped the St. Lucian chef’s unique culinary perspective. The four-course pre-fixe dinner – available all evening and priced at $75 per person (excluding tax and gratuity) – is inspired by the book, highlighting the vibrant flavors of Chef Compton’s journey. Chef Compton will be on-site for photos and autographs and will be participating in a few brief guided Q&As throughout the evening. Signed copies of the book are available for $37.50 and can be purchased when making a reservation. WHEN/WHERE: The Kwéyòl / Creole book launch dinner will take place at Compère Lapin at The Old No. 77 Hotel, 535 Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans. Reservations are available from 5:30PM – 9PM and can be made HERE.  Next up for theater company The NOLA Project is a one-man play, Every Brilliant Thing. The story explores depression and hope, uncertainty and change, confusion and joy, heartbreak and anger, relationships and solitude, risk and resistance, guilt and forgiveness. The main character interacts with audience members to tell about life with their mother’s depression as a backdrop, including the effects it has had on their life and relationships.
"[The play] is a powerful reminder of all the small things that really make life worth living – things we probably take for granted,” said Artistic Director Tenaj Wallace. “And at a time when mental-health conversations are more important than ever, The NOLA Project really wanted to invite our audience into a story that’s so universally resonant. It’s interactive, it’s intimate, but – most importantly – it’s deeply human. More so than any show we’ve ever done, I think.” The NOLA Project production features ensemble member Alex Martinez Wallace and is helmed by ensemble member Natalie Boyd, making her directorial debut. “This is a perfect play for The NOLA Project right now because I think collectively, as humans, we are struggling with grief and searching for rays of joy among the clouds,” said Boyd. . Every Brilliant Thing will be presented at Big Couch New Orleans. For schedule, tickets and more, visit NOLAProject.com. National Margarita Day is coming up on February 22nd - here are various specials around some of the city's best bars:
Virgin Hotels New Orleans On Saturday, February 22nd, guests can enjoy Virgin Hotels’ Signature Margarita - Sauza, lime, agave and orange liqueur for just $10 - available exclusively at the bar. Virgin Hotels New Orleans is located at 550 Baronne Street / https://virginhotels.com/new-orleans/. Palm&Pine Enjoy classic and original cocktails revolving around Agave & Cane Spirits. Highlights include the Yes, We Have a Spicy Margarita - hibiscus & jalapeño infused tequila, Cointreau, and lime for $15. Palm&Pine is located at 308 N Rampart Street. For more information, visit https://www.palmandpinenola.com Beggars Banquet The Spicy Boi is a fiery twist on the classic margarita combines Lunazul Tequila, zesty grapefruit, maraschino, Cointreau, and a kick of jalapeño citrus. Balanced with the perfect touch of spice and everything nice, this bold, refreshing drink is sure to heat up your day. Get yours for just $14 on Saturday, February 22. Beggars Banquet is located at 1330 Prytania Street. For more information, visit https://www.beggarsbanquetneworleans.com The Bower The Bower’s stellar Margarita Day offerings include the Magazine Margarita - house-infused strawberry tequila, triple sec, and lime for $16. The Bower is located at 1320 Magazine Street. For more information, please visit https://www.thebowernola.com Alma Cafe On Saturday, February 22, enjoy their Aero Bar Margarita featuring tequila, fresh lime, simple syrup, and dehydrated lime for just $10. Alma Cafe is located at 800 Louisa Streetand a second location just opened on 301 North Carrollton Avenue in Mid-City. For more information, please visit https://eatalmanola.com  Photo by Jen Rosenstein The custom piano played by acclaimed musical artist Jon Batiste during Super Bowl LIX is now on view in the museum’s Lapis Center for the Arts. The grand piano features a design by artist and bestselling author Suleika Jaouad, who is Batiste’s wife.
Before Sunday’s Super Bowl LIX game, Batiste performed the national anthem. A Louisiana native, Batiste is a seven-time Grammy Award-winning and Academy Award-winning artist known for his dynamic work as a singer, songwriter, and composer. Visitors to NOMA will have the unique opportunity to see the custom piano. The New Orleans Museum of Art is open Tuesday–Sunday, 10 am–5 pm, and Wednesdays, 12–7 pm. Every Wednesday, museum admission is free for Louisiana residents courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative.  Ayu Bakehouse has launched The Queen Bee king cake, a limited-time, a golden crown of laminated dough filled with pillows of burnt honey cream and ribbons of candied local citrus. It's being sold in limited quantities for local pick-up only. Pre-orders are open now.
Also, NOCCA is excited to debut its newest king cake 'The Goddess', in collaboration with all-female Mardi Gras Krewe of Muses. To honor Muses 25th Anniversary, the cake features the flavors of Greece: goat cheese and fig with candied orange and toasted walnuts, topped with silver glitter (to honor the 25th anniversary). The Goddess will be available for pickup or shipping February 17-27 only (you cannot get this king cake after Muses THERSday!). The special king cake will be available for purchase at www.noccamarketplace.com (with various pick-up location and delivery options at check-out) and at King Cake Hub. Proceeds from NOCCA’s King Cake Program sales support NOCCA's Culinary Arts department.  Murder on the Nile at JPAS (Photo Credit: John B. Barrois) Die me a river: Murder on the Nile @ JPAS Review by Todd Perley I have a soft spot for the cozy murder mystery, driven by plot and characters, usually isolated in whatever setting, over the violence of murder itself. Agatha Christie, of course, was the Queen of the Cozies, and her 1937 novel Death on the Nile remains one of her pinnacle pieces. The 1978 film with Peter Ustinov playing Hercule Poirot to perfection follows the book closely, and the stellar cast and location shooting throughout Egypt cements the film as a classic. In 1940, Christie wrote a stage adaptation, changing the title by one word, which isn’t a big deal, but also wrote Poirot out of the plot. Huh? Director Kristopher Shaw tells us, “… by the time she had adapted the novel, she had grown weary of Hercule Poirot. Instead of including him, she created a new character, Canon Pennefather, as an amalgamation of several characters from the book.” This had me concerned, being a fanboy of Poirot for pretty much my whole life, but I was also eager and curious about this new Poirot-less version. The action takes place in the late 1930s in the salon of the paddle steamer “Lotus”, cruising down the Nile, and the set is an eye-feast. It’s a period piece not written from nostalgia, but actually written in the time it is set. Which makes a difference somehow, I’ve always found. Act I introduces us to our suspects, fleshing out their backstories, motivations, and grievances. Simon Mostyn (Jonathan Mares) recently married up into the rich and opulent world of Kay Ridgeway-Mostyn (Kendall Berry), jilting his former fiancée Jacqueline (Gabriella Santalla), who plauges the newlyweds with her surprise presence wherever they go. Other passengers include Mrs. Ffoliot-Ffoulkes (not a typo) played by Janet Shea, a crotchety old woman traveling with her amenable niece Christina (Sarah Colbert), Dr. Ludwig Bessner (Adriel Aviles) whom Mrs. Ffoliot-Ffoulkes refers to with derision as “foreign.” (But so is she, being English in Egypt.) William Smith (Leon Contavesprie) is the sarcastic bohemian, and the aforementioned Canon Pennefather (Jimmy Murphy) stands in for Poirot. Getting to know our shipmates is not rushed. It is both necessary to the plot to know these people well, and also a delight. Act II presents our cozy little murder and the sleuthing begins with Christie’s trademark misdirection and cleverness steering the plot. The direction is zippy. Constant movement, rat-a-tat dialogue, people coming and going, the energy stays high and engaging. While I did miss Poirot, Dame Agatha’s new amateur detective is well-written and believable, so I consider the omission of her supersleuth to be justified, and an interesting twist to a story I was well-acquainted with. If well-constructed murder mysteries are your happy place, as they are mine, treat yourself to Maestro Christie’s classic whodunnit, told with pep and vim by an exceptional cast. As Christie wrote, “The impossible cannot have happened; therefore, the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances.” Murder on the Nile plays at Jefferson Performing Arts Center through 23 February - click here for more information and ticketing.  The cast of Mamma Mia! (photo by Joan Marcus) Mamma Mia! @ The Saenger Theatre
Review by Eileen Daley My finite life can be divided into two categories: days when I am the most rapt and credulous audience member to ever enjoy a musical, and days where I’d rather be anywhere else. This varies by show, of course, but the attitude I bring into the theater can color my entire experience. And what with the news being what it is, my life doing what it does, and The Big Game taking over town this past weekend, I wasn’t sure I was in the aisle-dancing mood. Luckily, the touring production of MAMMA MIA! at the Saenger theater was ready to show me how wrong I was. I don't know about you, but to me, it feels like MAMMA MIA! (and its giant Times Square billboard) has been around my whole life - at least as long as CATS and Les Mis have played on Broadway. But it actually had its New York premiere in October of 2001. Certainly those crowds would have found it even harder to suspend their disbelief and let a cheery ABBA dance party sweep them off their feet. Not only that, but its jukebox musical concept—while not completely novel—was unproven with modern audiences before MAMMA MIA! basically resurrected the genre. Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages and Jagged Little Pill would soon follow, but none achieved the success of the original, which is still the ninth-longest running Broadway show in history. And as true in 2025 as it was in 2001, the crowd loved it. Back then, after one of the performances in that first month, a certain small-time actress by the name of Meryl Streep wrote a note to the cast and director Phyllida Lloyd “to basically say: ‘Thank You For The Music and for the injection of joy that was so needful at that moment.’” I couldn’t put it better myself. The outrageous costumes, the expressionist vaporwave set design, and the slightly muppet-y deliveries all come together to form a lovely sort of dream scored by the world’s foremost Swedish pop quartet. Standouts included Madison Deadman as Sophie, and Stephanie Genito as Tanya. Seven years after that note, Phyllida Lloyd took a chance (took a chance, took a took a chance chance) on a complete unknown and cast Ms. Streep as the lead in the motion picture adaptation of her celebrated musical. Unfortunately, that’s not standard practice in showing appreciation for glowing reviews anymore. Shame! If you change your mind…you know where to find me. Mamma Mia! plays at The Saenger Theatre through Feb 16th - click here for showtimes and ticketing information Here's a round-up of some Mardi Gras season happenings at some of our favourite local restaurants:
Palm&Pine During Krewe of Barkus on Sunday, February 23rd, guests are encouraged to bring their four-legged friends to brunch and savor Palm&Pine’s housemade treats. Patrons can indulge in The P&P Salad, Blue Crab Rangoons and Waygu Steak and Eggs. On Lundi Gras, Monday, March 3, Palm&Pine will host its annual Supa Dupa Pine: An Iconic Lundi Gras Brunch from 10:30 AM - 3PM, priced at $25 per person. The day will feature Supa Fly entertainment presented by Bella Blue. Reservations can be made on Resy. Leading up to Lundi Gras, Palm&Pine is bringing back its celebrated Foie Gras King Cake after a two-year hiatus. The famous cake, featured in the Big Book of King Cake, has had a cult following since the restaurant’s pop-up days. It will be available for purchase by the slice only. The Bower Celebrate the carnival season with three Mardi Gras-inspired cocktails from The Bower. Sip on Carnival Negroni with housemade glittered Campari, gin, and vermouth; St. Charles Sour with house-infused peach bourbon, lemon, aquafaba, and red wine float; and for a frozen treat, the Mobile Mardi Gras with spiced rum and chocolate vegan soft serve. For more information, visit https://www.thebowernola.com/. Birdy’s Celebrate the carnival season with a special Mardi Gras-themed cocktail from Birdy's. The tasty Mardi Gras Martini is the perfect cocktail to bring out the Mardi Gras spirit, and you can pair it with their King Cake Cinnamon Roll. These celebratory sips/bites are the perfect way to toast the season! For more information, visit https://birdysnola.com/. Tujague’s Join Tujague’s for the 2025 Krewe du Vieux Parade Viewing Party on Saturday, February 15th. Enjoy an open-call brand bar, along with a selection of beer and wine, and indulge in a delightful buffet throughout the evening. Guests will have access to our exclusive private balcony, indoor seating, and private bathrooms for a comfortable and memorable experience. Tickets are $160 per person, inclusive of tax and gratuity. For more information and to purchase tickets visit here. Compere Lapin Celebrate Mardi Gras with a special a la carte Friday Lunch at Compère Lapin on February 28th, from 10:30AM to 2PM. Compere Lapin will feature a Mardi Gras menu including starters like buttermilk biscuits with honey and bacon butter, crispy tater tots with crème fraiche and caviar, and broiled shrimp with Calabrian chili butter and cilantro. For the main course, guests can enjoy curried goat with sweet potato gnocchi, fried chicken with biscuits and hot honey, or classic shrimp and grits with creole sauce, among other delicious options. Don't miss out on the decadent desserts, including bread pudding with local berries and Chantilly, mango crème brulee with coconut and berries, and a selection of locally-made ice cream and sorbet. For reservations and more information, visit http://comperelapin.com/reservations BABs This Carnival Season, BABs will be showcasing specialty Mardi Gras inspired cocktails, created by savvy bar guru Rick Powanda: Leading up to Fat Tuesday, the bar will be showcasing a Fat Washing Series:
Beggars Banquet Beggars Banquet will be hosting the Beggars Brunch with a Mardi Gras menu available for two weekends, February 22-23 and March 1-2 from 10:30AM - 3PM. Highlights of the brunch menu will include Pear Toast and Crispy Firecracker Calamari. Entrees will include the Jam n Ham Beignet and Stuffed French Toast. In addition, from now through Fat Tuesday the restaurant will offer Mardi Gras Muses, a specialty cocktail menu. Also available for just $50 will be Gable Boxes, with a choice of quarts of espresso martinis, bloody marys, or spicy boy margaritas (about five drinks to-go) with ice, and cups for the parades. For reservations and more information, please visit https://www.beggarsbanquetneworleans.com/. Virgin Hotels New Orleans
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