The first-ever New Orleans Edwardian Ball will take over Generations Hall on Saturday, March 25. While the party is new to the Crescent City, the San Francisco edition has been running for 17 years, and its Los Angeles counterpart has been going for eight years.

The Edwardian Ball is a fairly difficult event to explain, so I’ll leave it to the festival’s organizers, who describe the whole things as “an elegant and whimsical celebration of art, music, theatre, fashion, technology, circus, and the beloved creations of the late, great author and illustrator Edward Gorey.”

Photo by Marco Sanchez.

That music includes sets from The Big Bad Preservation Hall Brass Band, Aurora Nealand and the Royal Roses, The G String Orchestra and more. That’s in addition to performances by circus, burlesque and variety artists like LadyBEAST, Gego McGregor, Sweet Tooth Simone, Gretchen in Motion, Sarah Stardust and the Yada, Yada, Yada Sisters.

“The three Edwardian Ball affairs, staged in three unique and distinctive cities, each share the same commonality in cultural magnetism, mysticism, and magical allure, as well as troubled, tragic, tortured pasts, and remarkable rebirths, are, in a way, the three parts of a trilogy,” says Justin Katz, executive producer and co-founder of the Edwardian Ball. “Bringing the Edwardian Ball to New Orleans is the fulfillment of a passionate ten-plus year dream to present the affair in one of my all-time favorite and storied cities on the planet. To be able to work with LadyBEAST Productions and such a diverse, gifted, and talented group of New Orleans talent will add an even greater degree of panache, élan and flamboyance to what, our fans believe, is an already inimitable and world-recognized series of events.”

As previously explained, the Edwardian Ball draw its inspiration from the late Edward Gorey, who is best known for his illustrations depicting  unsettling and surreal 19th century characters and settings. Every year the ball puts on a theater production of one of his tales, and this year they will reimagine “The Deadly Blotter,” an unconventional whodunit that treats everyone in attendance as a sleuth or suspect.

Tickets for the New Orleans Edwardian Ball are still on sale.