NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
Smokey Joe's Cafe
Few of the 39 songs in the
Broadway smash-hit Smokey
Joe's Cafe need an introduction; they're classics by now. This exuberant, colorful celebration is a tribute to 
songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and includes such favorites as "Hound Dog," "Love Potion #9," "Stand by Me," "Yakety Yak," "There Goes My Baby," "On Broadway" and "Jailhouse Rock." These memorable songs provided the soundtrack to the lives of a generation of Americans. What's more, they were all the work of a single song-writing team, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. And, they are soon to be experienced and relived again at the Saenger Theatre as the seven time Tony Award nominated and Grammy Award winning musical Smokey Joe's Cafe - The Songs Of Leiber And Stoller makes its New Orleans debut as part of the 1997-98 MasterCard Broadway Series, Sept. 30 - Oct. 5,1997. Single tickets for Smokey Joe's Cafe are now on sale by phone at 504.522-5555 in New Orleans, 504.761.8400 in Baton Rouge, or 800.488.5252 outside New Orleans and Baton Rouge and at all TicketMaster locations and the Saenger Theatre Box Office.
"We didn't write the songs," Leiber and Stoller are fond of saying, "we wrote records," and the revolution in popular music that was born of the "45," the juke box and the car radio sounding off at the drive-in, began when Elvis' recording of Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog'" hit the charts in 1956. The hits continued from there: "Charlie Brown," "Loving You," "Treat Me Nice," "Kansas City" and many more-an unprecedented string of hits that defined the 50s and early 60s. The Coasters, The Drifters, Peggy Lee and Elvis all had their biggest hits with Leiber/Stoller songs. Having written songs together for over 40 years, Leiber and Stoller are not content to be confined to a specific musical style. They have created classics in a variety of genres including Rhythm & Blues, Pop, Jazz, Cabaret and, perhaps most notably, Rock & Roll.
Winner of the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Musical and nominated for seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Director and Best Choreography, Smokey Joe's Cafe-The Songs Of Leiber And Stoller celebrates the world of first kisses and last dances, hot summer nights and cool midnight struts, blue-light diners and red-hot rock 'n' roll. Directed by four-time Tony Award-winner Jerry Zaks, the show captures and celebrates the contagious spirit of the music of Leiber and Stoller. Musical Staging is by Joey McKneely, Scenery Design by Tony Award winner Heidi Landesman, Costume Design by Tony Award winner William Ivey Long.
The U.S. National Touring production opened to rave reviews August 17, 1996 at the Historic State Theatre in Minneapolis. Mike Steele of the Minnesota Star Tribune says: "Smokey Joe's Cafe the buoyantly tuneful, exhaustingly energetic tribute to songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, is a dynamite evening of entertainment."
The National Tour joins the original New York production, now in its third year on Broadway, having performed it's 1,000th show at the Virginia Theatre July 22, and the London production.
It's not too late to subscribe to the 1997-1998 MasterCard Broadway Series, which includes the return of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera, State Fair starring John Davidson, Annie, Chicago & Big. For subscription information call 1.800.218.SHOW (7469), Monday through Friday 10am-5pm.
Auditions
The University of New Orleans
Department of Drama and Communications will hold auditions for W. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, directed by Peter Carver, Wed., Aug. 27 at 7pm with callback auditions scheduled for Fri., Aug. 29 also at 7pm. The auditions will be held in the Thrust Theatre in the UNO Performing Arts Center. Auditioners should prepare a 1-2 minute comedic Shakespearean or contemporary monologue. Auditions will also consist of cold readings from the script and movement. Twelfth Night will be presented Oct. 10-18. There are over 25 roles available for both men and women. For more information, call 504.280.6327 or fax: 504.280.6318.
