Theater News

Sharon McNight Headlines New Orleans Production of Hats!

Sharon McNight
Sharon McNight

Former Tony Award nominee Sharon McNight will star in the New Orleans production of the musical Hats!, which begins an open-ended run today at Harrah’s New Orleans. The cast will also feature Carrie Lasoutos, Barbara Lauren, Terry Palasz, Lynda Diane Reed, Patricia Weldon, and Maxine Welch.

The musical, which premiered last year in Denver, will once again be directed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett, who received two Tony Award nominations for her direction and choreography of the Broadway musical Swing!

The show has a book and lyrics by playwright Anthony Dodge and his wife, Marcia Milgrom Dodge. Doug Besterman, Susan Birkenhead, Gretchen Cryer, David Friedman, Kathie Lee Gifford, Carol Hall, Henry Krieger, Melissa Manchester, Amanda McBroom, and Pam Tills are among the noted songwriters who are contributing material to the show.

Hats! focuses on a woman, about to celebrate her 50th birthday, who meets several members of the Red Hat Society, a real-life national group of women over 50 who come together to have fun. Officially formed in 1998, the group is named for the fact that its original six members dressed in red hats (and purple clothing) when getting together for tea. Today, the society has more than 40,000 chapters in all 50 states and in 30 countries around the world.

McNight received a Tony nomination for her work in Starmites and appeared Off-Broadway in Red Hot Mama, a musical she conceived about the life of Sophie Tucker. In addition, McNight is a popular cabaret artist, who has played many of this country’s major venues.