‘Dames at Sea’ features Tulane talents
Now through Nov. 11, BB’s Stage Door Canteen at The National World War II Museum presents Dames at Sea, a sunny spoof of 1930s movie musicals featuring the talents of several Tulanians.
Senior musical theater major Anthony Michael Harvey stars as Dick, an aw-shucks sailor and aspiring songwriter whose love for chorus girl Ruby (Amelia Jacquat) is threatened by the machinations of leading lady Mona Kent (alumna Trina Beck, whose daytime role is assistant dean for the Tulane Honors Program). This marks Harvey’s second starring role with a New Orleans theater company: Last spring, he played Frank Abagnale Jr. in Jefferson Performing Arts Society’s production of Catch Me If You Can.
“Learning to balance schoolwork with rehearsal hours has become a skill that I have had to develop over the course of a couple off-campus productions,” Harvey said. “It has not only taught me valuable performance skills that I could not have learned in the classroom, but has also taught me how to work with different directors and creative teams.”
Alumna Keyara Milliner is featured as Joan, a wisecracking hoofer with a can-do attitude. Since graduating with a bachelor’s degree in theater, Milliner has shown her range in featured roles with the NOLA Project, the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane, and Southern Rep, as well as an upcoming appearance on “NCIS: New Orleans.” She is also a member of the Victory Belles, the WWII Museum’s trio of Andrews Sisters–style vocalists.
"Thanks to some very special faculty members who understood the importance of preparing me for life as an actor beyond graduation, I felt more than ready to start auditioning and working professionally in this city and have had such an incredible experience this past year doing just that,” Milliner says.
Hope Bennett, costume shop manager for the Tulane Department of Theatre and Dance, is the costume designer. The show’s director is Banu Gibson, an acclaimed jazz vocalist who has choreographed dozens of shows for the Tulane theater department over the years. Gibson’s late husband, Bruce “Buzz” Podewell, was a beloved professor in the Tulane theater department from 1973 until his death in 2013, and today their daughter Jessica Podewell carries on his legacy as a professor of practice in the theater department.
