T H E T I M E S - P I CAY U N E N O L A .

C O M F R I DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 8 C5

Beyoncé, Jay-Z lunch at

The Munch Factory in New Orleans
Ann Maloney amaloney@nola.com

The day after husband-and-wife powerhouse Beyonce and
Jay-Z rocked the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with their “On
The Run II” concert, they rocked the world of Alexis and Jor-
dan Ruiz, owners of The Munch Factory on Sophie B. Wright
Place.
The two superstars stopped in for lunch Sept. 14.
“The night before I was joking with the staff, saying ‘Hey,
we’re going to stay open late because Jay-Z and Beyonce are
looking for a spot after the concert,’” said Alexis Ruiz, who
owns the restaurant with her husband. “They all laughed.”
But the next day, the phone rang.
“A friend of mine called and said Beyonce was looking for
a place to have lunch,” she said, adding that the friend told
her to be on the lookout for unknown numbers popping up
on her phone.
The Ruizes have a friend, Sean Frazier, who has been com-
ing to The Munch Factory for years. He told someone in the
couple’s circle about the place, Ruiz said.
To give the couple privacy, the restaurant owners decided
to close for a couple of hours.
“They didn’t ask us to close,” Ruiz said. “We thought that
would be best because we didn’t want a scene. We didn’t
want anyone to infringe on their privacy.
“They had a lot of seafood,” she said. “They especially
liked the oysters Gentilly, the shrimp and grits and the bread
pudding.”
For chef Jordan Ruiz, it was exciting to see his food appre-
ciated by the celebrity couple. To be singled out meant a lot.
“That was what was so touching,” Ruiz said. “There are
1,400-plus restaurants in the city and they came to little old
Munch.
“I told Jay-Z, it means a lot that you guys are here, but I
feel that way about everybody that comes to our restaurant.
He really seems to appreciate that comment and I meant it,”
Ruiz said, adding, “but come on, this is like the king and the
queen of the world.”
Alexis Ruiz described the two celebrities as “unbelievably
kind,” noting that they posed with the staff in a photo that
appeared on Twitter.
The staff hasn’t had much experience with celebrity cus-
tomers, Ruiz said.
“We thought it was crazy and exciting when (then-Mayor)
Mitch Landrieu came to eat,” she said. “We were all posing From left are Lauren Sanders, Alexis Ruiz, Ryan Williams,
with him.” Beyonce, Jay-Z, Jordan Ruiz and Jason Bignar.

MUSIC

Connick Jr. bringing his New

Orleans Tricentennial tour home
Doug MacCash dmaccash@nola.com

Jazz maestro, leading man and television

talk show host Harry Connick Jr. is bringing
his Tricentennial Celebration tour to New
Orleans on Dec. 15 at the UNO Lakefront

UNLIMITED SAMPLES
Arena. This is the second leg of Connick’s Tri-
centennial tribute. His fall schedule includes
stops in London and Paris, as well as several
venues in the Midwest, plus New Orleans.
Local music lovers will be relieved that
Harry’s hometown is finally on the list of
of over 100 Beers & Spirits!
Tricentennial tour stops. Back in April when
he announced the list of cities he planned to
visit, the Crescent City wasn’t on the tour. It
was as if New Orleans hadn’t been invited
OCTOBER 13, 2018
to its own birthday party. But that oversight
has obviously been rectified. 1pm - 5pm · Tickets: $25
The Crescent City-born star will play a set of
New Orleans-centric songs befitting the 300th SLIDELL MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM
anniversary. The yuletide concert will benefit Heidi Gutman, NBCUniversal 2056 2ND STREET • SLIDELL, LA
the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, which Con-
nick co-founded in the Ninth Ward during the
city’s recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Buy your tickets at: N0008796957-01

Tickets are $18 to $117 via Ticketmaster.

NorthshoreoNtap.com

Shear Madness
FROM C1 IF YOU GO

the plot begins. Shear Madness

Through the course of the afternoon, it is
discovered that the salon’s unseen landlady,
a one-time concert pianist, has been mur-
dered in the upstairs apartment. A pair of
police detectives are quickly on the scene to
investigate the crime, with the denizens of
the salon all being suspect. Consider it “The
Mousetrap” meets “Steel Magnolias,” via
one of those deliciously developed comedy
sketches from the old “Carol Burnett Show.”
In a surprising move, the fourth wall is
demolished as the lead detective turns to the
audience for its help. Theater-goers should
pay careful attention to every detail, the
comings and goings of each character and
anything they happen to do, as the detective
will then have the suspects recreate all that
has occurred. Careful eyes will question any
variation in the retelling of events, raising
questions and objections.
In the end, whodunit? Whoever you say.
Before the closing scenes, the audience will
vote on who the murderer is, and the play’s
final secrets will be revealed.
Along with the ending varying with each
performance, the reactions and interroga-
tion from the audience can lead the show
down any number of paths.
Kristopher Shaw directs it all with a far-
ceur’s eye, keeping the brisk pace. He also
has assembled a fine ensemble of actors who
create riotously funny but believable char-
acters. With each revealing an assortment of
secrets and motivations, they are also quite
sharp, responding to any questions from the
audience with clever ad-libs and improvisa-
tion. They also stay fully in character, even
remaining on stage during the intermission
to be quizzed by audience members.
Glenn Boyer is over the top as the salon
owner, a f laming queen right down to
his Carol Channing impersonation. He
describes himself as having once been a ster-
eotype, but in 2018, “Now I’m trending!”
As his wisecracking assistant, Alison
Logan is a sheer delight, proving again her
ability as a bright comic actress, here equally
channeling Judy Holliday and Jayne Man-
sfield.
Casey Groves adds to the mystery and
humor as a shady “used antiques dealer,”
posing as Uptown gentry with origins com-
ically elsewhere.
Audiences are mostly accustomed to see-
ing Janet Shea in serious dramatic roles.
Here, she gets to display her comedy chops
and nearly steals the show as the sharp-
tongued Garden District matron who
arrives in the salon. Her comic timing, par-
ticularly in her banter opposite Groves, is
impeccable.
Quick on his feet, John Detty takes com-
mand onstage as the lead detective, serving
What: The Jefferson Performing Arts Society
presents the regional premiere of the lon-
gest-running nonmusical play in America, a
comic murder mystery in which the audience
decides nightly who the killer is. Adapted by
Marilyn Abrams and Bruce Jordan from the
German play by Paul Portner. Kristopher Shaw
directs.
Where: JPAS’ Westwego Performing Arts The-
atre, 177 Sala Ave., Westwego.
When: Performances at 7:30 Friday and Satur-
day, and at 2 Sunday, through Oct. 28.
Admission: $35; $32 for seniors and military;
$25 for students; $20 for children. For more
information, call 504.885.2000.
as the malaprop-ridden ringmaster of the
frantic circus around him. As the befuddled
but eager-to-please cop assisting him, Jon-
athan Damare also elicits laughs through a
variety of sight gags.
(Helen Blanke, Kyle Daigrepont and Kath-
ryn Talbot will alternate in several of roles
at some performances. Also watch for local
media celebrities in guest roles. TV legends
Angela Hill and Norman Robinson each
made cameo appearances on opening week-
end.)
The humor ranges from jokes that
would’ve been at home on “The Match
Game” in the 1970s, where many answers
involved the word “boobies,” to up-to-date
zingers targeting assorted topical issues.
Without growing gratuitous, the local refer-
ences are carefully placed and hit their tar-
get with bull’s-eye precision.
That ever-changing nature of the show
clearly keeps it fresh and will likely draw
repeat audiences. The infectious humor, so
well-played by its affable and talented cast,
raises “Shear Madness” above the mere gim-
mick of its setup.
As the actors smoothly maneuver the
myriad possibilities of the script, the pro-
duction values are just as well-honed. Kris-
tin Blatchford’s unit set has all the requisite
doors for the farcical entrances and exits,
but also is a technical achievement, with the
operating electricity and running water of
an actual salon.
Assistant technical director Zachary
Brommer’s sound and lighting designs are
assets to the show, as are Shelby Clemens’
costumes, which reveal details about each
character the minute they walk onto stage.
It would be a crime to miss out on the
laughs of “Shear Madness.”