This holiday season, Hotel Monteleone has Réveillon Dinners at signature Criollo Restaurant and a selection of elevated cocktails at Carousel Bar & Lounge. 
 
Feast of the Seven Fishes Dinner | Wednesday, December 24 at 5:00 p.m.
On Christmas Eve, Hotel Monteleone’s signature Criollo Restaurant will offer The Feast of the Seven Fishes – an exclusive menu available for Christmas Eve dinner – for $130 per person. Attendees can immerse themselves in this elegant and time-honored culinary journey to celebrate La Vigilia — the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Each course pays tribute to the rich traditions of Italian coastal cuisine, honoring the spirit of Christmas Eve with seafood at the heart of every dish. From light and delicate to bold and savory, this meal is crafted to awaken the senses and warm the soul. Seating is limited; book reservations via Resy
 
Réveillon Dinners |Monday, December 1 – Wednesday, December 31
For the month of December, Criollo Restaurant will offer patrons the opportunity to participate in the city’s tradition of Réveillon Dinners, featuring four courses for $95.. *Will not take place on December 24.

Festive Decor Suites: Families seeking a memorable Southern holiday can book the two-bedroom Penthouse Suite. The suite is decked out with festive seasonal décor, a private rooftop patio with unobstructed city views for watching Santa's sleigh, complimentary cocktails, milk and cookies and more. Book through the hotel's Papa Noel offer to save 15% off the best available rates for stays now – December 30, 2025.

Crescent City Stage with the generous support of The Josephine presents a Benefit Staged Reading of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, in a new adaptation by Patrick Barlow. Enjoy an evening of storytelling, cash bar and small bites, all in support of Crescent City Stage’s 2026 programming.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11
6:00 – 10:30 PM

EVENING LINEUP
6:00–7:30 PM — Cash Bar & Small Bites 
7:30 PM -- Staged Reading
9:30 PM — Post-reading Celebration with the Cast

The Josephine
2400 Napoleon Avenue, NOLA

BUY TICKETS

​Review: The Squirrels
The Lupin Theatre, Tulane

What happens when instability threatens an otherwise idyllic existence? Robert Askins’ (writer of the Tony-nominated Hand to God) dark comedy creates a squirrel world - yes, called “the squirld” - that asks just this question. The Squirrels (playing through Nov 20th at Tulane’s Lupin Theater) addresses wealth, race and power inequality. 

We’re introduced to the ‘squirld’ by a fourth wall-breaking scientist (Trina Beck), who provides a primer on squirrel behaviour and noises. Nuts - collected and stored by variety - essentially become capital, and the different species (gray and red/”fox” squirrels) are ethnic and/or class divides. 

Sciurus (John Jabaley), is an aging grey squirrel patriarch, living comfortably with his wife Mammalia (Dale Shuger). They have enough nuts to last ten winters, which in squirrel terms means they’re set for life. One daughter, Rodentia (Ella Hughes), is an adopted red squirrel they found half-frozen. The other daughter, Chordata (Audrey Gotham), is secretly seeing another red squirrel, young Carolinensis (Sacha Codron). 

Carolinensis needs food, but he’s from a different part of the woods, and Sciurus is suspicious about sharing his nut stash, even before he knows about the forbidden romance. Tensions arise, and are stoked by Sciuridae (also Trina Beck), an agenda-driven, affluent grey squirrel who appears with the sole intention of provoking division. 

What was likely subtext at 2018’s world premier is now overt social commentary. Mistrust, disinformation and bigotry evoke a paranoid world as resources become ever more scarce, and roiling animosity evolves into violence. Conspiracy foments conflict, a civil war with scant benefits and heavy societal tolls. 

Theatrical immersion is a tall order, but director Ryder Thornton - backed by the wonderfully evocative, multi-level woodland set - presents a believable, lived-in world. Tails and ears added to otherwise human clothing keep the production from straying into pantomime, and the drama hits without distractions. 

The cast and ensemble do a remarkable job with consistent physicality, relaying a dextrous energy that combines skittishness and nimbleness in a way that isn’t cartoonish. You immediately buy into the ‘squirld’ and its logic, along with the nuzzling and distressed squeaks and affectionate "muk, muk, muks" that pepper squirrel speech. Keeping the characters engaging without descending into ‘Cats’-style parody is a high bar, cleared by everyone on stage here. 

The individual characterizations are impressive, too, and every actor manages to instill their creature with personality, free of patronizing broad strokes. The family dynamic is immediately recognizable, from the love and bickering of the parents to the bratty kids. Actors appear from hidden nooks, and move with rodent-like jumpiness - hats off to both R’Myni Watson and Kelly Bond as intimacy director and movement and vocalization director respectively. 

There’s humor to be had with transposing human behaviour onto squirrels, having them drink maple syrup like booze or celebrate with pine cones and the like. A good recurring joke is Sciurus’ repeated bravado claims to have fought off dangerous hawks, though his wife lets slip it was really just blue jays. 

These affectations anchor the audience in the drey (the squirrels’ nest) and woodland, well enough for the underlying aggression and brutality to be genuinely moving. The Squirrels reflects our own animalistic tendencies, aspects of ourselves that become more apparent every day. (PO)

The Squirrels plays at the Lupin Theatre at Tulane through Nov 20th. Click here for more information and ticketing

Movie Review: Frankenstein

Legacy horror has enjoyed some big recent releases, what with Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu last year, and now Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Frankenstein (a 35mm print is currently showing at Prytania Uptown). 

Before prodding the creation further, I’ll just note that I had a uniquely New Orleanian issue watching the opening. Last month, I saw NOLA Project’s excellent stage adaptation and so for the first 20 minutes, I was half distracted recalling the play’s hilarity as the otherwise-serious scenes played out. I laughed at the actual movie, too, but we'll get to that. 

Like the play, this sumptuous-looking film is faithful to Mary Shelley’s 19th century novel. Captain Anderson (Lars Mikkelsen) and his crew are stuck in the Arctic ice when they find a dying Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac). As they drag him onboard, they are attacked by a monstrous creature, really the last thing you need when you’re trying to evade advanced hypothermia. They temporarily repel the monster, cueing up Victor’s life story flashback. 

Victor's mother dies in childbirth, creating his lifelong conviction that death is negotiable. As he rises through the medical ranks, the establishment thinks he's lost the plot. Enter Christoph Waltz as arms dealer Harlander, along with his niece Elizabeth (Mia Goth) and her fiance, Victor's brother William (Felix Kammerer). Harlander backs Victor’s reanimation projects, and Victor juggles falling in love with Elizabeth with gathering battlefield corpses for his greatest achievement yet. 

One face-off with Harlander and a huge bolt of lightning later, and Victor’s hard work pays off. He awakes to find the creature (Jacob Elordi) watching over him, a meek and childlike giant, more baby giraffe than brute. Frankenstein becomes increasingly frustrated and cruel. Emotions run high, Victor’s love is unrequited and Elizabeth starts to feel affection for his tragic creation. Victor manically tries to destroy his lab and the creature, losing his leg in the explosion. 

Back on the ship, the creature has reappeared, and has violently boarded in search of Victor. It’s here that one of the clunkier plot devices kicks in, as Elordi also sets up a flashback. Granted, Del Toro has described the movie as an “emotional Mexican melodrama” but this, “Now let me tell you MY side of the story” and multiple people telling Victor that he’s the real monster both had me rolling my eyes and smirking cynically. Perhaps that was the point. 

Elordi instills an impressive emotional life into the creature, ricocheting between violence and tenderness as he becomes more articulate. He flees into the woods, is educated by a blind hermit, and returns to find Victor on the day of Elisabeth’s wedding. Now aware that he will spend eternity alone, the creature wants a companion, but Victor refuses. Pandemonium ensues, and the hunting of the creature begins, leading them both into the Arctic. 

Del Toro is a masterful world builder and the aesthetic flourishes, together with a tone that verges on camp without committing to it, make for an entertaining ride. The sets are perhaps less fantastical than Lanthimos created for Poor Things (essentially his Frankenstein), and aren’t as cartoonish as a Tim Burton joint. It’s a striking, visually dramatic work, though, and Alexandre Desplat’s excellent score only occasionally conjures up Danny Eflman. If you like your horror with a healthy amount of melodrama running through its DNA, then Frankenstein is well worth firing up (PO).

Frankenstein is currently streaming, and showing at the Prytania Uptown 

Broussard’s Restaurant & Courtyard has announced Barrels & Bites: Seven Three Distilling Co. Bourbon Experience, for Thursday, November 20th. Doors open at 5:30 PM, with dinner beginning at 6:00 PM. Guests will enjoy a four-course culinary journey thoughtfully paired with premium bourbons from Seven Three Distilling Co. Tickets are $90 per person, inclusive of tax and gratuity. In addition, Seven Three Distilling will provide each guest with a certificate for a complimentary distillery tour for two. Reservation times for your experience are available via OpenTable.com.