A Broadway infused cast and its all-star production staff continue the bicentennial celebration of the Louisiana Purchase with a production by the same name in LSU’s Reilly Theatre starting March 28.
“Louisiana Purchase,” originally written by Irving Berlin, is a musical farce that follows the investigation of the Louisiana Purchasing Company, which is making some shady deals around Louisiana in the 1930s. Northern Sen. Oliver P. Loganberry begins to investigate the board of directors and the board tries to blackmail Loganberry, a presidential hopeful, by getting him drunk with a stripper (in classic New Orleans style), and everything goes haywire from there.
The play, which originally was set in a much earlier time period, was tweaked specifically for this performance.
“Same music and the same story line, but a lot of new lines,” said Adam Hose, a graduate student in fine arts who plays Junior, one of the main characters. “Ours is a brand new play.”
“Louisiana Purchase” is directed by New Yorker Dom Ruggiero, who has worked internationally on productions such as “Phantom of the Opera,” and “Into the Woods.” The production cast also includes musical director F. Wade Russo and choreographer Molly Buchmann, both Louisiana natives. Ruggiero’s resume has lead him across the world, but this is his first trip to Baton Rouge.
“I’ve worked in New Orleans, but this is different,” Ruggiero said. “I love it here, although it is very different than New York. (It’s) much more relaxing; the people are wonderful, and the food is great.”
The musical itself has a long history, making its first run in New York in 1940 and closing a year later.
“It was originally written for Broadway,” Ruggiero said. “We shuffled the piece around, deleted one character and combined many others. We researched and rewrote the dialogue to make it more humorous and Louisiana-specific,” said Ruggiero.
Perhaps the most interesting part about this run of “Louisiana Purchase” is the content of the play.
“(The Play) actually has nothing to do with the Louisiana Purchase,” Hose said. “It’s only loosely based on fact. It’s a farcical shot at dirty politics in Louisiana.”
Opening night is March 28 in the LSU Reilly Theatre at 7:30 p.m., followed by a catered reception by Unique Cuisine. “Louisiana Purchase” will continue to run every Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. until April 13. Tickets are $12 for students, $19 for seniors and LSU employees, and general admission seats range from $27 to $30.
Ruggiero invites students to come enjoy the theatre.
“Come and be entertained. Let’s laugh at ourselves because we need some laughter in these times we have today,” he said.
Rehearsals are picking up this week as the cast prepares for a Pay-What-You-Can Preview on Wednesday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. and opening night.
The cast includes LSU students like Hose, but also consists of Broadway-tested thespians. Hose, who recently has been hired to star as ‘Bat Boy’ at the Southern Rep Theatre, a professional theater in New Orleans, says he is not nervous about his final performance on the LSU stage.
“The production value is going to be amazing,” he said. “The people we’ve brought in, the orchestration, all of it is going to be so big; it’s going to be what people love to see. People love to see musical comedy, a funny, happy story that breaks into song every now and then. It’s what made Broadway what is it today, a musical that people will go see. It’s going to be funny, flashy, and not only that, it’s going to be a piece of Louisiana.”