Good Nola is Getting a Makeover

Dear readers,

We are making some changes, please bare with us! Expect a new and improved website by the beginning of next week! Hope you enjoy.

Shercole

NEW ORLEANS IS GETTING A “MAKE-OGRE” SHREK THE MUSICAL

DreamWorks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. are pleased to announce that SHREK THE MUSICAL will play at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for eight performances: Tuesday, May 31 – Sunday, June 5, 2011. Tickets go on sale Friday, April 8 at 11:00 AM.

The role of everyone’s favorite swamp-dwelling ogre, Shrek, will be played by Eric Petersen, who joins the tour from the Broadway production. He recently appeared as the socially challenged Barfee in the National tour of The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Haven Burton, also from the Broadway Company, will play the feisty Princess Fiona. Haven previously played Margo the Dog Whisperer on Broadway in Legally Blonde and understudied Elle Woods. Alan Mingo, Jr. is Shrek’s lovably annoying best friend Donkey. He was an original company member of The Little Mermaid where he played the role of Sebastian, and prior to that played the role of Tom Collins in RENT on Broadway. David F. M. Vaughnplays the vertically challenged villain Lord Farquaad. He, too, joins the tour from the Broadway Company. He also has appeared in Les Misérables and Saturday Night Fever.

Rounding out the cast of misfit fairy tale characters, the peoples of Duloc and Far, Far Away are: Joe Abraham, Holly Ann Butler, Carrie Compere, Emily Cramer, Tyrone Davis, Jr., Sandra DeNise, Hayley Feinstein, David Foley, Aymee Garcia, Brian Gonzales, Derek Hanson, Benjamin Howes, Cara Kem, Sean McKnight, Mara Newbery, Denny Paschall, Sarah Peak, Keven Quillon, Morgan Rose, Jason W. Shuffler, Blakely Slaybaugh, Danielle Soibelman and Julius Thomas III.

“We are thrilled to send SHREK THE MUSICAL to theatres across the country,” said Bill Damaschke, President of DreamWorks Theatricals, “and for American families to experience their favorite ogre and fairy tale creatures live on stage.”

An entirely new musical, SHREK THE MUSICAL is based on the story and characters from William Steig’s book Shrek!, as well as the DreamWorks Animation film Shrek, the first chapter of the Shrek movie series.

SHREK THE MUSICAL tells the story of a swamp-dwelling ogre who goes on a life-changing adventure to reclaim the deed to his land. Joined by a wise-cracking donkey, this unlikely hero fights a fearsome dragon, rescues a feisty princess and learns that real friendship and true love aren’t only found in fairy tales.

SHREK THE MUSICAL features a book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize^® winner David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole), music by Olivier Award-winner Jeanine Tesori (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Caroline, or Change), and is directed by Tony Award^®nominee Jason Moore (Avenue Q) and Tony and Emmy Award-winner Rob Ashford (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Promises Promises). SHREK THE MUSICAL has set and costume designs by Tony Award^® winner Tim Hatley (Private Lives, Spamalot), lighting design by Olivier Award winner Hugh Vanstone (A Steady Rain), sound design by Peter Hylenski(Rock of Ages); choreography by Josh Prince, music supervision by Tim Weil, music direction by Andy Grobengieser, and orchestrations by Danny Troob & John Clancy.

SHREK THE MUSICAL was initiated when Sam Mendes, a big fan of the first Shrek film, suggested the idea of creating a musical to DreamWorks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg around the time the second film was in production. The musical is produced by DreamWorks Theatricals (Bill Damaschke, President of DreamWorks Theatricals and Co-President of Production for DreamWorks Animation) and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. (principals Sam Mendes and Caro Newling).

Schedule and Tickets:

The eight performances are scheduled from Tuesday, May 31 – Sunday, June 5 2011. Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 8:00PM, Saturday at 2:00PM and 8:00PM, and Sunday at 2:00PM and 7:30PM.

Tickets go on sale Friday, April 8 at 11:00 AM. For more information on tickets, visit http://BroadwayInNewOrleans.com,http://www.mahaliajacksontheater.com or the Mahalia Jackson Box Office.  Tickets are also available at all Ticketmaster locations, http://www.ticketmaster.com or via phone at 800-982-2787 (ARTS). Group discounts for 20 or more are available by calling 504-287-0372.

For more information, visit www.ShrekTheMusical.com or http://www.mahaliajacksontheater.com/event/15242. Join the award-winning Shrekster.com, the Official Fan community of Shrek The Musical delivering news, media and exclusive contests to fans of the Shrek Series and Shrek the Musical.  Log in and join the New Orleans group for access to the most up to the date news, information and member’s only exclusive content form Shrek and Donkey’s first “whirlwind, big city adventure” across the country:  www.shrekster.com/neworleans.

Mahalia Jackson Theater is located in Armstrong Park at 801 N. Rampart Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. Information on the Capital One Bank Broadway Across America-New Orleans series and venue policies and accommodations may be obtained online at www.mahaliajacksontheater.com. Group Sales information is available at 504-287-0372. Box Office information is available at 504-287-0351.

Why New Orleans Is the Coolest Start-up City in America

Everyone in New Orleans has a Katrina story, and those tales are typically tinged with loss, frustration, and grief. Five years after the storm, you still hear them, of course, and you still see evidence of the devastation that killed over 1,800 people and left more than one million homeless. But Katrina gave New Orleans another story to tell, and it's one that just may have a happy ending for the city's entrepreneurs. Each year from 2007 to 2009, 450 out of every 100,000 adults started up businesses in the New Orleans metro area, well above the national average of 320, and more than double the number six year ago. 
FULL STORY

FestivalCrashers:001

Each year I and my cousins Deshandalyn, Helen and Regine take in as many festivals as possible. We love the food, art, music and most importantly the people. Each year our festival attendance goals get more ambitious. This year we wanted to step it up a little. We decided to call ourselves “The Festival Crashers”; we are like a mix of tornado chasers meets Wedding Crashers. This year we plan to attend 30 festivals if not more, hopefully our super powers will kick in.

We started our season as The Festival Crashers with attendance to two festivals on Saturday. We visited Fete Festival and Freret Street Festival. Fete Festival was a fundraiser for Ecole Bilingue de la Nouvelle-Orléans. The festival had local eateries, music and lots of children activities. Highlight: Frites and more Frites.

Next we visited one of our favorite festivals, Freret Street Festival. So much culture lined Freret Street for you to take in! The food, art, the people is an indulgence like no other. We walked the street overdosing on the beautiful are of different forms from the creative people you can find throughout the city. We witnessed headbands shaped like cupcakes, hats any mad hatter would love, art that probably belongs in a museum and just so much more. The high concentration of the creative class in New Orleans just is mind boggling. Then along different streets we experience all types of music from rock to brass bands.

The food decisions were tough so many wonderful things to pick from! We all felt it was necessary to indulge in Shrimp and Chicken Pasta from Good Eats Catering, which definitely made it into our Top 10 pastas you have to taste in your life! That yummy goodness will keep you smiling all evening. Thanks Owner Samantha Massey!

We felt the best way to wash it down was with a snoball, is there really any other way? We had a huge snoballs from Snola that kept us definitely cooled down. My wedding cake snoball will be on my mind all week!

Freret Street Festival definitely left some pretty high standards and requirements for the rest of festival season.

Let us know your favorite festival.

Here are some things we saw along the way!

Baked Buffalo Wings With Blue Cheese Dressing

Contrary to popular belief, I was not born in the south but in a cold, lovely northern town called Buffalo NY, which is also the birthplace of the legendary Buffalo Wings. They originated at a little place called Anchor Bar and unsurprisingly go well with cold beer and a good game on TV. They also make good use of Louisiana’s famous hot sauces. Traditionally, margarine is the fat in the sauce but I prefer butter for “health” reasons. In this line of thinking, I like to bake my “healthy” version of those famous wings rather than deep-fry them. Fear not, fellow gluttons—I’m including a recipe for an equally unhealthy blue cheese dressing. Enjoy.

FOR THE CHICKEN WINGS

·      3.5 lbs chicken wings (15 whole wings), fresh or thawed

·      1 cup all-purpose flour

·      1 tablespoon vegetable oil

·      1 tablespoon kosher salt

·      1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Preheat the oven to 425°. Pat the wings dry with a paper towel and season them with the salt and pepper. Toss them in a bowl with the oil in. Put the flour in a Ziplock bag and put the wings inside, shaking the bag to cover them evenly with the flour. Remove the wings from the bag one-by-one, shaking the excess flour off each one. Put them on a nonstick baking tray or on a regular baking tray with greased aluminum foil, being careful not to crowd them. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn them over and bake for another 20 minutes. Toss the wings gently with the Buffalo sauce and serve with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing.

FOR THE BUFFALO SAUCE

·      9 tablespoons Frank’s RedHot (or other Louisiana hot sauce)

·      6 tablespoons unsalted butter (or margarine)

·      2 teaspoons Tabasco (or Crystal)

·      1 1/2 tablespoons vinegar

·      1/4 teaspoon cayenne

·      1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

·      1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

·      1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

While the wings bake, combine all the sauce ingredients in a pan or small pot and bring to a simmer over low heat. Turn off the heat. That’s all. The sauce might seem extremely buttery, which may convince you as to why I baked the wings instead of deep-frying them. This recipe is for a medium level of spiciness. If you prefer mild, remove a few spoons of RedHot and Tabasco accordingly and substitute paprika for the cayenne. If you prefer more heat, add more cayenne.

FOR THE BLUE CHEESE DRESSING

·      3/4 cup sour cream

·      1 1/3 cups mayonnaise

·      4 ounces blue cheese, chopped or crumbled

·      1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

·      1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

·      1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

·      1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

·      1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together the sour cream, mayo, and Worcestershire. Mix in the garlic and mustard powders, salt, and pepper. Mix in the blue cheese. (I prefer to preserve the chunks rather than make the dressing completely smooth.)

The dressing actually tastes better after sitting in the fridge for a few hours or even overnight. Also a block of actual blue cheese tastes better than the pre-crumbled pre-packaged variety, trust me.

Companies donate $150,000 for New Orleans recreation programs

Mayor Mitch Landrieu this morning is set to announce $150,000 in private donations to help pay for recreation programs in New Orleans.

Grant Capital Management, a Maryland-based provider of lease financing to the public sector, has given $100,000 to the New Orleans Recreation Development Foundation, the fund-raising arm of the NORD Commission, a public-private entity that voters authorized last year to take over the city's struggling Recreation Department.
FULL STORY

A Green-It-Yourself Workshop

A Green-It-Yourself Workshop:  Financing Green Upgrades- Tax Incentives and Green Loans

Interested in improving the energy efficiency of your home but not sure how to finance the upgrades?  Take part in this workshop to learn how to find the funds to green your house.  Jackie Dadakis of Clean Energy Solutions and Terri Miller and Penny Sandras of ASI Federal Credit Union will be on hand to discuss tax incentives, rebate programs, and green loans that can help you invest in energy and money-saving home improvements.

Tuesday, April 26

6pm-8pm

Green Building Resource Center

841 Carondelet St.

New Orleans, LA 70130