HOW TO KILL A DIVA Opens Next Friday At Westwego Performing Arts

Comedy hits a high note in the new musical How to Kill a Diva, a farcical romp that exposes the hilarious secrets of backstage at the theatre. In the play, the maestro of a financially failing opera house battles a diabolical diva and a homicidal cast to mount a company saving production. As everything goes wrong, laughter reigns.

Glyn Bailey, the composer and co-bookwriter of the very popular and award-winning musical "Scandalous!" produced by JPAS in 2009, returns to the New Orleans theatre scene with a hilarious new musical comedy. Collaborating with Bailey on the book for How to Kill a Diva are Wesley Payne and Ricki Holmes. The play, written in the style of a classic backstage comedy, offers a peek into the jealousies and misadventures of the opera world. Bailey's music keeps the action flowing with a mix of playful tunes and pensive melodies.

Renowned stage director Steve Scott, producer at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, directs a talented mix of opera and musical theatre talent featuring Claire Shackleton as the aging soprano on the downside of her career, Robert Wagner as the capable maestro with a poor business sense, Rachel Looney as the young rival soprano, with Jennifer DeLatte, Elizabeth Lowry, Enrico Cannella, Tom Vaughn, Chris Wecklein, Jake Wynne-Wilson, Maria Hefte, Matthew Shurley, and Larry Larkin rounding out the homicidal cast of characters.

Tickets for How to Kill a Diva may be purchased online at www.jpas.org, by calling the box office at 504-885-2000, or at our Administrative/Box Office: 1118 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, LA 70001. Seating is Reserved Regular Ticket Price is $35 Discounts for Seniors, Military, Students (w/ id) ($2.00 ticketing fee per ticket is added). Tickets are available at the Venue Box Office one (1) hour prior to the performance time.

Founded in 1978 by Maestro Dennis G. Assaf and Hannah Cunningham, the Jefferson Performing Arts Society is a non-profit professional arts organization whose mission is to promote arts performance, training, and outreach by providing a diverse range of quality programs that entertain, educate and enrich the cultural and economic vitality of Jefferson Parish, Greater New Orleans and the Gulf South.