This week on Inside the Arts , the Phunny Phorty Phellows gear up for their 12th Night Streetcar ride announcing the start of the 2019 Mardi Gras season. Krewe Captain Peggy Scott Laborde joins us. Then, the merriment continues with more 12th Night celebrations and a birthday party for the unofficial Maid of New Orleans. The Medieval Krewe of Joan of Arc prepares for its walk through the French Quarter. There are some changes this year. Parade founder Amy Kirk Duvoisin has the details. And, the

This week on Inside the Arts, It's All About New Orleans, a Tricentennial blow-out with the Lula Elzy New Orleans Dance Theatre. The one night only music and dance extravaganza celebrates jazz icons Ellis Marsalis, Germaine Bazzle and features a performance of Duke Ellington's New Orleans Suite. Ellis Marsalis joins us in-studio. Then, a cast of French Quarter characters bring to life a holiday musical comedy as the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans continues its run of one of

This week on Inside the Arts, two-time Tony Award winning singer/actress Christine Ebersole known for her roles in Grey Gardens and 42nd Street is heading to New Orleans for the Broadway at NOCCA Series. She'll join composer Scott Frankel and host Seth Rudetsky in an intimate evening of stories and song. Christine Ebersole joins us by phone. Then, the Ashé Cultural Arts Center gears up for a grand celebration, its 20th Anniversary! We talk with Ashé co-founder Carol Bebelle. And, "Oh Crap, It's

‘Tis the season when some of the festively decorated private homes in the city’s Garden District are open to the public. The Preservation Resource Center is hosting its 43rd annual Holiday Home Tour. We talk with PRC executive director Danielle Del Sol.

This week on Inside the Arts, Handel's Messiah is back. The Symphony Chorus of New Orleans teams up with the Chalmette High School Voices Chorale for two performances of the popular baroque oratorio. We talk with Symphony Chorus music director Steven Edwards and soprano Annelise Cassar. Then, a new Holiday musical, Mandatory Merriment created by Leslie Castay and Ian Hoch debuts at Southern Rep Theatre. The fortitude of strangers stranded just before the Holidays in a French Quarter bar is

This week on Inside the Arts, conversation with Cara McCool Woolfe, executive director of MASNO, the Musical Arts Society of New Orleans. The critically acclaimed piano duo, Anderson & Roe will highlight MASNO's Nocturne XVI Gala, Sunday, December 2nd.

This week on Inside the Arts, Kermit Ruffins' Kickoff to Christmas concert rings in the holiday season as French Quarter Festivals, Inc., launches its 34th Annual Christmas New Orleans Style celebration. Then, in commemoration of World AIDS Day the Storyville Collective with Crescent Care present a benefit reading of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. And, Hip-Hop goes to college. Loyola University New Orleans launches an

This week on Inside the Arts, as the city's tricentennial year winds down, a 3-day conference explores improvisation and its influence across the arts. It's called Improvisation: New Orleans Gift to the Modern World. Conference organizer, author and philanthropist Randy Fertel joins us. Then, a big win for multi-disciplinary artist José Torres Tama. His Taco Truck Theater project is the subject of a documentary by Rodrigo Dorfman that won Best Louisiana Feature at this year's New Orleans Film

This week on Inside the Arts, conversation with Arts District New Orleans executive director Marcela Correa. She is the curator of the exhibit Hispanic Women Making Art: Creative Empowerment & Identity presented by the Mexican Cultural Institute in New Orleans and the New Orleans Hispanic Heritage Foundation. The mixed media group installation explores gender inequality. There is a gallery walk-thru tonight 11/16 at 5:30 at 901 Convention Center Blvd., suite 118. The entrance is through

This week on Inside the Arts the theater community is abuzz with not one, but two plays that were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama by rising playwright and MacArthur Fellow Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Theatre UNO continues its run of GLORIA. Office politics come under the microscope in this workplace comedy that takes a toxic turn. Director David Hoover joins us with cast members Danielle James and Rachel Morris. Then, the Southern Rep Acting Company tackles mortality and the meaning of