Storyville
by Ed Bullins, Mildred Kayden

Ed Bullins and Mildred Kayden’s ebullient musical celebrates the birth of jazz and dramatizes an important chapter in the history of New Orleans.

In the 1910s, in New Orleans’ notorious legalized vice district known as Storyville, a musician and former prizefighter named Butch “Cobra” Brown falls in love with the elegant torch singer Tigre Savoy.

Singing at Mickey Mulligan's nightclub, Tigre is joined by a splashy array of fellow performers, including vocalist Fifi Foxy and bandleader Hot Licks Sam.

When the city’s corrupt political machine prevents Cobra from becoming a musician, Cobra agrees to participate in a prizefight.

But the fight devolves into a brutal street brawl, leading to the death of a sailor.

The secretary of the Navy shuts down the neighborhood, forcing Cobra, Tigre and the other entertainers to find a new home.