Ricky Graham and Becky Allen: Catch them if you can

Editor’s note: Due to Hurricane Isaac, the final performance of Ricky Graham and Becky Allen at the Mid-City Theater will be Sunday, Sept. 9, at 2 p.m. The information in the story has been updated.

Becky Allen and Ricky Graham play one more riff on New Orleans at the Mid-City Theater on Friday.

Maison Blanche DuBois, King Louis XIV, Truman Capote and Mae West play supporting roles. But the stars of the show at Mid-City Theatre are Ricky Graham and Becky Allen, who, in addition to assuming the aforementioned personas, command the stage as themselves: icons of local theater.

The fast-paced evening at Mid-City Theater is a delightful skip down Memory Lane, as Allen and Graham re-create (and at times update) songs and sketches from their first forays into local show business, going back to the 1980s, a.k.a. “the Dawn Marie of time.”

But more, it’s a tribute to New Orleans and her devoted denizens. As one song puts it, you might be crazy – “outta the box” – to live here, but you’d be crazier to leave. (And you know you are a true New Orleanian when you can step on a roach “hard enough to kill it without messing up the carpet.”)

Aiding and abetting the dynamic duo are music director Jefferson Turner, Brian Albus on percussion, Thad Griffin on sound and Su Gonczy on lights (and harmonies).

However, you need to act fast to catch Allen and Graham this time around. The final performance takes place Sunday, Sept. 9, at 2 p.m. Go to http://www.midcitytheatre.com/ or call 504.488.1460. Admission is $26, and the theater’s address is 3540 Toulouse St.

Mary Lou Atkinson offers observations on the art of living in New Orleans whenever the spirit moves her, for NolaVie. For more information on NolaVie, visit NolaVie.com.