BWW Preview: THE BODYGUARD Opens at the Saenger Theatre Tonight

Anyone remember that movie back in the 90s starring the great and powerful Whitney Houston (may she rest in peace) and the always hunky Kevin Costner where Whitney plays the pop star and Kevin plays her haunted bodyguard that annoys her at first but she eventually falls for? I know, I know, that was a mouthful of a sentence, but it's fine. Well. If you loved the movie The Bodyguard, you're in luck because now there's a stage musical that originated in London that's on tour all across the United States right now, and they're paying New Orleans a visit this week. THE BODYGUARD is opening tonight at the Saenger Theatre, and if you're ready to hear R&B/pop recording artist and actress (Film: Akeelah and the Bee, Hotel Rwanda; Broadway: AIDA, JEKYLL & HYDE) Deborah Cox belt her face off then this is a show you're not going to want to miss out on.

I sort of mentioned what the story is about before, and if you've seen the movie it won't be any surprise to you, but THE BODYGUARD tells the story of superstar Rachel Marron (Deborah Cox), and all of the good, bad, and ugly that come along with stardom. Specifically, Rachel is being plagued by threats from a stalker so a former Secret Service agent named Frank Farmer (Judson Mills) is hired as a bodyguard to protect her. Frank seemingly goes overboard with security at first, according to Rachel, but things wind up heading down a creepy road so it turns out Frank knew what he was doing. Of course there's also a love story involved, because what musical doesn't have that? Rachel and Frank wind up falling for each other, which make the events throughout the story all the more dramatic - in the best way, no less.

Other cast members that you can look forward to seeing in this production are Alex Corrado playing Tony Scibelli, Jarid Faubel playing Ray Court, Charles Gray playing Bill Devaney, Jonathan Hadley playing Sy Spector, Kevelin B. Jones III playing Fletcher, Jorge Paniagua playing The Stalker, and Jasmin Richardson playing Nikki Marron. You may recognize Jasmin Richardson's name from the touring production of MEMPHIS that came through town a few years ago. Re-visit my interview with Jasmin here.

I cannot wait to see this show, and to re-live moments from the movie, and even experience some new ones created just for the show. I hope that you will join me in supporting this fabulous cast as they bring this musical thriller to life at the beautiful Saenger Theatre this week. Sidenote: I've heard there have even been standing ovations in the middle of the production, so if that doesn't convince you that this show is going to be great I don't know what will!

Visit http://www.saengernola.com for tickets and more information. I'll see you there!

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