Event Pick of the Week: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Ensemble from Nola Project’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. (Photo: Nola Project)

When: Starts Wednesday October 16-November 10 (shows at 7:00 PM)

Where: NOMA’s Besthoff Sculpture Garden in City Park

Why: A headless horseman, a scary tale, and an immersive experience that takes the audience and actors among and through the statues in the sculpture garden? Seriously, where else do you get to do things like this? 

What: Well, it’s a play, but it’s not just a play.  The NOLA Project has an all-new adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by multiple Big Easy Award-winner Pete McElligott. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow marks The NOLA Project’s seventh-straight world premiere in the Besthoff Sculpture Garden and 10th outdoor production in the space overall. Mind you, we don’t know exactly what you should expect. In 2011, there was a production of a Midsummer’s Night Dream that included some crawling, some running, and some tree climbing (by the actors, not the patrons), so who knows what will happen with this torrid tale. But, it’ll be fun and spooky, and you can find out more details about the production and purchase tickets here.  

Now for the rest of the WEEK(end)

Nola to Angola riders (photo credit: Steve Merlan)

Wednesday, October 16/The Cove at UNO (Founders Road, 2000 Lakeshore Drive): Jazz at the Sandbar is in full speed, and they are continuing their UNO series with singer Cyrille Aimee on Wednesday. Jazz at the Sandbar, held at UNO’s the Cove, is designed to provide UNO Jazz Studies students an opportunity to get real life experience performing with respected professional musicians in front of a live audience. The series is presented on Wednesday nights during the fall and spring semesters and features a different respected jazz artist each week. The concert is free for the UNO community, and there is a suggested donation of $10 to the general public. The concert begins at 7:00 PM.

Friday, October 19/727 S. Broad Street: We wouldn’t get you up early in the morning unless it was important. At at 8:00 AM on Friday, Nola to Angola will have 70 cyclists who will gather outside Orleans Parish Prison to bike the 170 miles from New Orleans to Louisiana State Penitentiary, a journey too many of our community members make in shackles. In its 9th year and bigger than ever, Nola to Angola provides funding for Cornerstone Builder’s Bus Project. Cornerstone sends free buses every month to prisons throughout the state so that people can visit their incarcerated loved ones. And you can support the riders by sending them off with love. The send off begins at 8:00 and the riders take off at 9:00 AM. For more details, you can check out their event page here. 

Friday, October 18/Orpheum Theater (129 Roosevelt Way): The New Orleans Film Festival is here, and while we want to promote all the movies (there are so many good films!!), we are spotlighting the retro-stylized 70s road movie, Easy Does It, which has new cast additions John Goodman and Harry Shearer in voice roles as radio personalities. Goodman and Shearer join  the Terminator series’ Linda Hamilton as the film’s crime matriarch, plus Mad Men’s Bryan Batt and Beasts of the Southern Wild’s Dwight Henry as cops in pursuit of the film’s anti-heroes (played by Ben Matheny and Matthew Martinez). Easy Does It will make its world premiere and hometown debut on Friday at 7:30 PM. Check out the film festival’s website for tickets. 

Friday, October 18/Jack Rose (2031 St Charles Avenue): Remember the days (or last weekend) when you got home at midnight and just wanted brunch food? Well, now remember that New Orleans is the place dreams come true because for one night only, the bustling eatery located inside the Pontchartrain Hotel is partnering with Stein’s Market & Deli for a “Midnight Brunch.” From 11:59PM to 2:00AM guests can eat and drink the night away while enjoying live tunes and a special joint performance by the Klezmer All-Stars and the Panorama Jazz Band. Priced at $75 per person (all-inclusive), the full menu will include things like, Koshuterie Board, duck pastrami, beef tongue, chicken liver pate, smoked fish, cheeses, latkes, preserves, pickles, ciabatta, and more. Seating is limited, and you can get your tickets here. 

Saturday, October 19/1850 House Museum (523 St. Ann): Friends of the Cabildo will bring back the dead, even better (or worse) than before, with their 33rd Annual Ghostly Gallivant Weekend this October 19th-20th. Just in time for Halloween, the Friends of the Cabildo will host their annual ghostly themed French Quarter walking tour, full of frights and fun for the whole family. Their French Quarter walking tour guides will lead guests around the French Quarter as they bring New Orleans ghosts to life in historic locations. Tours run from 12:00 – 4:00 pm (tours every 30 minutes), and tickets are $20 for FOC members and $25 general admission. For more information and tickets, click here. 

Saturday, October 19/ NOCHI Café (725 Howard Avenue): With the cool breeze that’s (sometimes) in the air, there’s nothing better than sitting down with a blanket and a good book, but now, you don’t have to be a total loner while you read. New Orleans Chapter has started a bi-monthly culinary book club, available free of charge to foodies who are interested in discussing food-related fiction and nonfiction. The first meeting will take place on Saturday, October 19, 2019, 9:30AM, and for the first meeting, the club will read and discuss Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain. Book club attendance is free but a donation of $5 is suggested. For details on the Culinary Book Club and to RSVP, you can check out their website: LDEI Book Club.

Saturday, October 19/Contemporary Arts Center (900 Camp Street): Remember how we said we couldn’t promote all the amazing films in the New Orleans Film Festival; well, we also want to give a shout out to local filmmaker Angela Tucker whose film All Skinfolk, Ain’t Kinfolk will be screening at the CAC at 6:00 PM. A the filmmaker explains, “After a contentious race last fall, the runoff for mayor of New Orleans came down to two candidates: Desiree Charbonnet and LaToya Cantrell, two very different black women. The winner of this election would take office as the first female mayor of New Orleans and the city’s fourth black mayor. Through news footage, campaign advertisements and archival audio and video, All Skinfolk Ain’t Kinfolk is the unprecedented story of this mayoral runoff told through the eyes of black women living in this city. The film offers a window into the questions communities of color will have to think about nationally as candidates become more diverse (during the upcoming midterms and beyond). It also opens a pressing dialogue about how voters and the media engage with black women candidates.” Need we say more? To get tickets, check out the New Orleans Film Festival website.