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Cafe Lafitte In Exile’s$1,000 Costume Contest



Lafitte’s Halloween bartender Dustin

Chris, another Lafitte’sHalloween bartender


The crowds overflow into the streetfrom Cafe Lafitte’s

Darron welcomes revelersto Rawhide Halloween

A “manly” man seduced by PrincesseStephaney Halloween at Good Friends

Cocktailin’ for Halloweenat Good Friends

Ambush’s Marsha & Rip snag WoodEnterprises’ Ken & Hotel LaSalle’s Tony

at Good Friends on Halloween

Kabrina Watson, Oz mgr. MichaelBenedetti & Sable Nicole Starr outside

Oz Halloween

Double Play’s 4 Seasons connection,Matt & Trevor, Halloween at Double Play

The fabulous Deannaat Double Play Halloween

Dress to Kill’s Wallace & Krystal LynnHalloween at Double Play

Halloween at About Time

About Time’s Don caught wearin’ nodrawers Halloween

Halloween revelers at About Time

About Time manager Richard

Comin’ out the coffin at About Time

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trodding the boards

by Patrick Shannon, IIIE-mail: [email protected]

Man of La Mancha

“Oh no, not more kitsch and cheapsentiment!” was the response I gotwhen I called theater savvy friends in

Manhattan to share a performance with me ofthe hit musical and at the time the longest runningBroadway show, Cats, during the last month ofits “million year run.” I was probably the onlycritic in the world that had not yet seen it.

“If I have to listen to one more version ofMemories,” they all said with a condescendinglaugh, “I might as well go see a rerun of TheSound of Mucous aka as The Sound of Money!”That’s what it’s now called by sophisticatedManhattanites. Every one I called was sarcas-tic, and slammed the phone down in my ear.

Well I love cats in general, so I went alone;and I loved it, loved it! And I love the songMemories no matter who sings it, anytime evento this day.

Another less successful, but popular fora while, semi-hit Broadway musical of 1965,Man of La Mancha with a book by DaleWasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics byJoe Darion - all based on the novel of DonQuixote by Miguel de Cervantes, has suffereda similar fate as regards its hit song, TheImpossible Dream, also known as The Quest.Some local critics told me, “What, not that again!I’d sooner get drunk in a gay bar and listen toPatsy Cline sing Crazy or Tammy WynnetteStand By Your Man on a tinny jute box for aweek,” they all replied sneeringly. But theycame to Man of La Mancha and WHAT ASURPRISE!

The emotionally charged, and beautifullydone version of Man of La Mancha recentlyproduced by the Jefferson Performing ArtsSociety at the Westwego Performing Arts The-atre was given a totally new life that throbbedwith the beauty of one its themes, the triumphof mankind’s spirit over great adversity, basedupon the epic novel of Miguel de Cervantes, DonQuixote de la Mancha.

In sixteenth century Spain, Miguel deCervantes (Richard Hutton) poet, playwright,and part-time actor, has been arrested, alongwith his Manservant (“Uncle” WayneDaigrepont), by the Spanish Inquisition. Theyare accused of having presented an entertain-ment insulting and offensive to the CatholicChurch. Inside the waiting room of a vast andhuge dungeon into which they have been cast,the other prisoners gang up on the two men. Ledby the Governor (Alan Payne) a mock trial isheld, with the intention of stealing or burningtheir possessions contained in a large trunk.Cervantes only wishes to desperately save amanuscript he carries with him. With the helpfrom the trunk that contain props, makeup, andcostumes; and with the assistance of his Man-servant a musical play is staged. With theparticipation of the other prisoners (mostlycommon criminals), an unusual defense for themanuscript is presented, the story of Don Quixote- The Man of La Mancha.

The house was nearly full the night wesaw it and almost every eye was a little tearfulwhen the final curtain fell. And that’s what canhappen even to “cheap sentiment creations.”Such a familiar show, with an iconic song, canbecome theatrically luminous when the brilliantgenius of such people as Director Brandt Blockercan put his magic touch to the task, or whenuber Maestro and all around Superman of thePerforming Arts, Dennis Assaf, directed a virile11 piece orchestra featuring guitar master MikeVila who was able to decorate the Broadwaymusical sass and brass section with delicatetouches of tasteful Iberian auditory spice. (It isalmost as if some of the orchestrations wereinspired by the beautiful film version with PeterO’Toole, James Coco, and Sophia Loren.)

That’s what happens when a male leadsuch as Richard Hutton is so inspired that hebreaks every heart with his touching, searingperformance as Miguel de Cervantes, and ce-lestial singing as Don Quxiote; and Cervantes’Manservant and Don Quixote’s proverb filledsidekick Sancho Panza is played by “Uncle”Wayne Daigrepont with perfect comedic timingand sensitivity.

That’s what happens in such a glowingproduction when we get an Aldonza, a commonwhore and kitchen wench, played with suchpower and final sweetness by the wonderfulactress Brandi Cotogno, who sings like a sea-soned star of the American stage. It is with greatbravery she becomes the Dulcinea she alwayswas.

Other performers added their great styleand talents to this touching show: great char-acter acting as the Padre by Wayne Gosoulin(whose beautiful voice illuminated the song ToEach His Dulcinea) and the angelic vocalizationsof Kristen Marchiafava’s pretty Antonia - AlonsoQuijana’s niece, a man who has read andstudied so many stories about brave errantknights that in a half-mad and confused state, hebelieved himself to be a noble and brave knightand re-named himself Don Quixote de la Mancha;Alan Paynes finely etched roles as the Gover-nor and the Innkeeper; Jimmy deMontluzin’smerry bumbling barber and the ominous Captainof the Inquisition; and the handsome Eric Lincolnleading the chorus of Muleteers (the harmoni-ous and macho: Armando L. Leduc (Pedro, theHead Muleteer), Shawn Champange, HunterMcGregor, Jeff Ramirez, and Steve Kubick) in avividly lovely rendition of Little Bird, Little Bird.

Susan Barrett Smith was memorable asMaria, the practical, sweetly scolding wife ofthe Innkeeper; and Paul Bello showed off his finetalents as the Duke, the logical Dr. Carrasco -Antonia’s fianc‚, and the frightening Knight of theMirrors. Rene Balencie Saussaye’s role as theHousekeeper added a touch of honest homelyhumor to the show but with a bit of sexual/romantic fantasy/imagination in her character.

Carrie Daigle as a Horse and Moorishdancer, and Alexis Bruzza as a Horse keptbeautifully in step with the choreography ofCasey Leigh Thompson.

All of these splendidly balanced andblended performances worked well on a strongsolid set with an epic operatic look in the styleof Giovanni Battista (also Giambattista) Piranesiwith the scenic design of twin sisters Isabel andMoriah Curley-Clay: a great arch looming overstage right with a stairway stage left, thesewere given a sad hopeless dungeon feeling byScenic Artist and Lighting Designer MelissaOliver. This oppressive feeling was assisted bythe technical artistry of Stewart Becnel’s soundSound Design. Other assets were the contribu-tions of Richard D. Whitney as Technical Direc-tor and Scenic artist; and of Billy Schill asProduction Stage Manager. The costumes of M.Brady McKellar were fresh and in keeping withthe feel of the musical.

This Man of La Mancha rose high abovethe level of cheap sentiment and settled into thestratospheric levels of high art and heartfelttheatre. And that’s what it’s really all about. Acathartic experience comparable to mysticalart.

Nola, A movie Review

>From the New Orleans Film Festivalweb site: Nola, a film fantasy,projects the imagination of a comic

book illustrator, who fancies complicated “sto-ries” from various New Orleans characterswho come to meet at the “Funky Butt” bar. Thefilm, shot six months before Hurricane Katrina at

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a cost of two hundred thousand bucks, showshow several very New Orleans type charac-ters struggle through life and love with theadded burden of having to prepare for the bigstorm that is headed for their city. Nola is theproduct of the “Feature Film Class” taught byveteran Writer/Actor Harold Sylvester and Pro-fessor Ron Gural at the Tulane University De-partment of Theatre and Dance. The class ofeighty students from Tulane, Xavier and DillardUniversities and Delgado Community Collegemet the challenge of writing the script andproducing the movie during the spring semesterof 2005. Nola has a score by composer JayWeigel, and includes music by such icons asCyril Neville, Phillip Manuel, Leah Chase, “BigSam” Williams, and Aaron Neville. Produced byTulane University in association with Blue BayouEntertainment. Edited by Carolina Loreto. Di-rected by Harold Sylvester. 95 minutes.

The big storm in the film is called Ivan. Andas the hurricane approaches the city, the vari-ous lives of people intersect in comic and tragicways. The film has nearly fifty speaking parts;and even a silent appearance - in the distance- of the President of Tulane University, ScottCowen. It is a remarkable film full of surprisinglygood acting, high production values, and aspooky prescient plot about the Big Easy, incor-porating some of our town’s leanings towardsupernatural or superstitious ideas.

The high quality of the production showshow beautifully photogenic our New Orleanswas, is, and always has been. (Especially eeriewere scenes in which one sees a backgroundshot of a drainage pumping station that wasdestined to actually go under water, and failduring hurricane Katrina.) But the most remark-able element of Nola’s success was the miracleof getting such a huge cast of mostly studentsand amateurs to come together, stay together,and create a little film with large possibilities anda lot of class.

Just a few local familiar faces seen amongthe large cast are: Denise Boutte as Nola, Ron

trodding the boards ...from M-18 Gural as Free Money, Michael Santora as Mike,David Stidd as Mr. Charles, and Carol Sutton asBernice. For more comprehensive information,please check out the Internet Movie Data Baseabout Nola: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0491082/.

XXX at the County Line orBurn Baby Burn

A quick trip across the lake to thecharming Skyfire Theatre ofCovington, Louisiana

(1.985.875.5777 or www.skyfire.tv) will bringyou to the let-it-all-hang-out super high campand super polished production of an audience

participation show about murder, sleaze, andmusic written with a pen dipped in an inkpot ofsharp “tits & ass” comedy by director/play-wright Jason Kirkpatrick.

He has conjured up a “white trash withmoney” witty twisted plot involving a motherand daughter singing and stripping act, magictricks, slutty dancers, etc., of which spacedoes not permit the hilarious details. Mr.Kirkpatrick’s pen has inserted many an homageto famous film and theatre moments that willmake you just about pee in your tighty- whitiesor panties with laughter as you site them.

With an appealing and sparkly set for thebar (called County Line in the script) as well asexpert tech and lighting effects, this show is a

wild original theatrical event written around aplethora of popular songs that results in qualityadult entertainment.

The gorgeous costumes by JaclynLamarque and perfectly coordinated choreog-raphy (almost too sassy to be allowed on stage)highlight the fine costumes and dance routines,all reminiscent of those campy but brilliant danc-ers that used to grace The Carol BurnettShow dressed by Bob Mackie. The dancing isa sharply focused class act. Casey LeighThompson demonstrated tremendous Terpsi-chorean talents in her work.

With one of the most talented and profes-sional of musical directors in the U.S. of A, JonneDendinger, pounding the piano, and directingfive talented musicians, she keeps a tight gripon all those notes from all those stylisticallydifferent songs. We can’t praise Ms. Dendinger,band, and the cast enough for their amazingover the top stage presence and slick shinyprofessionalism.

Now to mention the singing voices of thecast. I thought I had seen Meredith Long andCasey Leigh Thompson at their peak of perfec-tion in the recent unforgettably faultless pro-duction of Urinetown, the Musical atRivertown Rep Theatre; but these two ladiespull out all the stops and really prove what supertalents they are as they play the roles of MissEvie St. Clair (mother) and Sissy St. Clair (daugh-ter) respectively.

Just as vibrant and with powerhouseenergy are Frannie Rosenberg playing KattStagewrite and Lynne M. Lawrence playing KittCovington, both are sassy brassy roles. (For-merly these two chorines had been perfect KitKat Club girls in the Jefferson Performing ArtsSociety’s inventive and innovative Cabaret -so their character’s “Christian” first namesseem to be an in joke.)

Handsome hunk Travis Resor plays Sher-iff Phony (subject to premature ejaculations),while Ray Perer does an old time burlesque

T

[continued on Main-24]Lynne M. Lawrence & Frannie Rosenberg, XXX at the County Line

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