Wendy
R. Williams'
Theatre Column |
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September 15, 2009
Avenue Q,
which had been scheduled to close in New York City,
has announced that it will reopen at Off Broadway's
New World Stages on October 9, 2009. This is great
news for anyone who has not already seen the show
or for Q addicts who need their fix. Q
is a hysterically funny, wonderfully naughty show
that should not be missed by anyone who loves to
laugh. And don't be put off by the fact that it
is a puppet show. Actors carry the puppets onstage
and the reactions between these actors and their
puppets not-to-be-missed theater. AvenueQ.com
September 10, 2009
The Off
Broadway 20 at 20 Promotion is back, running
from now through September 20. This year's selections
including Stomp (if you have not seen it,
you really need to) and the fantastically campy
Toxic Avenger (I laughed my a** off).
Many of the shows
are at the always fun New World Stages: Toxic
Avenger, Naked Boys Singing, The
Gazillion Bubble Show, My First Time
and Altar Boyz. New World Stages are modern
and beautiful. The Time Out Bar is onsite and across
50th street from the theaters is my favorite Thai
restaurant, Seeda
Thai.
So get your rush
on while the rushings good.
Here is a quote
from the press release:
20at20
IT’S BACK! NY THEATER’S ANSWER TO RESTAURANT
WEEK:
SEE OVER 20 OF OFF-BROADWAY’S BEST SHOWS FOR
ONLY $20 EACH
Buy tickets for only $20
– twenty minutes before show time!
September 8th – 20th only!
For two weeks only, Off-Broadway will offer tickets
for only $20 twenty minutes before show time. “20at20”
is now a bi-annual celebration of NY’s best
shows, in the tradition of Restaurant Week! Beginning
Tuesday, September 8th and continuing through Sunday,
September 20th, Off-Broadway shows will offer seats
still available twenty minutes before the curtain,
for only $20 when purchased at the box office (cash
only at some venues; some restrictions may apply)
for over twenty shows. Here is your chance to catch
up with shows you may have missed, get a sneak peek
at the next hit, or revisit a favorite – all
for only $20! And since Off-Broadway has performances
to fit everyone’s schedule, you can see more
than one! Where else can you see five shows in a
day, for less than the price of
ONE BROADWAY TICKET?!
A full list of participating shows will be available
soon at www.20at20.com.
Currently, the following shows are confirmed to
participate:
Altar Boyz (New World Stages)
Toxic Avenger (New World Stages)
The Fantasticks (The Snapple Theatre)
The Marvelous Wonderettes (Westside Theatre)
Stomp (Orpheum Theatre)
The Gazillion Bubble Show (New World Stages)
After Luke & When I Was God (Irish
Repertory Theatre)
An Evening at the Carlyle (Algonquin Theatre)
Sessions (Algonquin Theatre)
My First Time (New World Stages)
Awesome 80s Prom (Webster Hall)
In the Daylight (McGinn-Cazale Theatre)
Vigil (DR2 Theatre)
The Selfish Giant (The Players Theatre)
Naked Boys Singing (New World Stages)
Keep Your Pantheon and School (The Linda
Gross Theatre)
August 9, 2009
The Fringe Festival Wants
to Be-Fringe You
The 2009 New York
International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC),
billed as "New York's Best Staycation,"
is roaring into town and will run from August 14th
- 30th, 2009. Theater companies from all over the
world pack up their grease paint (and props, and
costumes and bits of scenery etc. etc) and decamp
for the Big Apple and the chance to become the next
break-out play. The New York Fringe Festival was
the breeding ground for plays like Urinetown
(Broadway) and Off-Broadway successes like Debbie
Does Dallas, Dixie's Tupperware Party
and Matt & Ben (fringenyc.org/history/cguide2.asp).
Here is a quote from
The Fringe press release : "The New York International
Fringe Festival (FringeNYC) is the largest multi-arts
festival in North America, with more than 200 companies
from all over the world performing for 16 days in
more than 20 venues – that's a total of more
than 1300 performances! FringeNYC generates an atmosphere
of extreme excitement, and our energy is contagious!"
The Fringe's offerings
may be hit-or-miss, but the energy is exhilaratingly
contagious. So follow the pack of determined theater
lovers as they march through the heat of August
into downtown Manhattan.
Check out the Festivals
website for show
listings. You can also check our Off
Off Broadway Listing section which is brimming
with Fringeness.
Here are some shows
that caught my eye as I perused our listing section
(hey, I LOVE camp):
Charlotte Booker's
Bitch! A Play Based on the Autobiography of
Lady Lawford
August 17 @ 10:00 PM
August 20 @ 4:45 PM
August 22 @ 7:00 PM
August 23 @ 2:30 PM
August 28 @ 7:00 PM
The Connelly Theatre
Part
of the 2009 New York International Fringe Festival
Bitch! follows
the truly outrageous life of the charming, eccentric,
and utterly opinionated Lady May Lawford –
mother of 60’s Rat Packer Peter Lawford. The
play is adapted from the book of the same title,
an autobiography penned by Lady Lawford as told
to Buddy Galon. Buddy, some 50 years Lady Lawford’s
junior, acts as her enigmatic “society companion”
throughout the story, accompanying the thrice-married
aristocrat on a bizarre journey to expose the truth
behind the death of Marilyn Monroe. Yet, neither
of them realize they are unwittingly about to become
part of a real-life mystery themselves. Bitch!
is under the direction of Melinda Buckley and is
being produced by Melissa Doyle. The production
features playwright Booker in the role of Lady Lawford
and Joe Kinosian in the role of Buddy. The production
is being held through the NYC Fringe Festival (FringeNYC).
For more information on the production, visit: www.andsoshedid.com.
Tickets $15. Tickets can be purchased at fringenyc.org/seeing/tickets.asp,
or by calling 1-866-468-7619: CHARGE ONLY. In-person
tickets may only be purchased beginning July 31
at FringeCENTRAL, 54 Crosby St. (Between Spring
and Broome), New York, NY.
The Connelly Theatre l 220
E. 4th St., New York, NY 10009
Citizen
Ruth
August 17 @7:45 pm
August 20 @ 2:45 pm
August 21 @ 1:30 pm
August 23 @ 10:30 pm
August 24 @ 7:30 pm.
Minetta Lane Theatre
Part of the 2009 Fringe Festival
Christian conservatives. Righteous feminists. Scheming
politicians and shallow celebrities. They all want
something from Ruth — a foul-mouthed, homeless,
paint-huffing unfit mother. But what does Ruth want?
Mark Leydorf (book and lyrics) and Michael Brennan
(music) welcome you to the modern American musical,
a dark comic satire adapted from the Miramax film
by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor. Produced by David
W. Caldwell and Christopher Allen, directed by Howard
Shalwitz, and choreographed by Dan Knechtges, Citizen
Ruth is having its premiere at the 2009 New York
International Fringe Festival. The Music Director
is Andrew Graham and the Production Stage Manager
is Dee Wickert. The outstanding cast includes Craig
Bennett, David Benoit, Zack Colonna, Janet Dickinson,
Sherri L. Edelen, Tara Giordano, Annie Golden, Marya
Grandy, Joel Jones, Greg Kata, Dennis Stowe, and
Garrett Long as Ruth.
Mark Leydorf (book/lyrics) & Michael Brennan
(music)
Tickets $15. For more information
or advance purchase visit fringenyc.org/seeing/tickets.asp.
The Minetta Lane Theatre
| 18 Minetta Lane
(subway to West 4th St.)
Buddy Thomas’s
Devil Boys From Beyond
August 23 @ 9:00 PM
August 27 @ 4:15 PM
August 28 @ 7:30 PM
August 29 @ 4:00 PM
August 30 @ NOON
The Actors’ Playhouse
MadCaP Productions is proud
to present DEVIL BOYS FROM BEYOND as part
of the 13th annual New York International Fringe
Festival – Fringe NYC. Flying saucers! Backstabbing
bitches! Muscle hunks and men in pumps! INVASION
OF THE BODY SNATCHERS meets HIS GIRL FRIDAY in this
outrageously insane comedy by Buddy Thomas, author
of the smash off-Broadway hit, THE CRUMPLE ZONE.
Kenneth Elliott, co-founder of Theatre-in-Limbo
and director of VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM, PSYCHO
BEACH PARTY, THE LADY IN QUESTION, and many others,
directs an all-male cast that includes Everett Quinton,
of The Ridiculous Theatrical Company, Andy Halliday
(also from Theatre-in-Limbo); Paul Pecorino; Chris
Dell’Armo; Peter Cormican; Robert Berliner;
Jeff Riberdy; and Jacques Mitchell. Previous productions
by MadCaP include revivals of THE MYSTERY OF IRMA
VEP and PSYCHO BEACH PARTY.
Tickets are $15.00 and may be purchased at fringenyc.org/seeing/tickets.asp
or by phone (beginning July 24) at TICKETWEB, 866-468-7619.
Further information may be found at:
www.devilboysfrombeyond.com
The Actors’ Playhouse
l 100 Seventh Avenue South (Grove & Bleecker)
Pink Snow's
Porn Rock: The Musical
August 20 @ 10:45 PM
August 22 @ 7:00PM
August 23 @ 2:45 PM
August 25 @ 5:00 PM
August 26 @ 7:30 PM
Dixon Place
Part of the 2009 New York
International Fringe Festival
Are you ready to rock? PORN ROCK! Announcing the
WORLD debut of PORN ROCK: The Musical coming this
August 2009 to the New York International Fringe
Theater Festival for only 5 performances. PORN ROCK:
The Musical is a theatrical erotic rock extravaganza
that follows the true life story of a once under
age exotic dancer and her quest to fulfill her dreams
of becoming a rock star. With a live band playing
original rock and roll anthems, this multimedia
spectacle will transform the venue into a cross
between a rock and roll concert, a burlesque theater,
and a Las Vegas showgirl revue. Warning! Parental
Advisory is suggested! For More Information visit
pornrockthemusical.com
Admission $15. Advance Tickets go on sale Friday
July 24 at midnight at fringenyc.org/seeing/tickets.asp
Tickets will be also be available at the door ONLY
15 minutes before performance at the theater box
office if still available.
Dixon Place
l 161A Chrystie Street
(Rivington & Delancey)
SUBWAY: F/V to 2nd Avenue, B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to
Broadway
Aaron
Loeb's
Abraham Lincoln's Big, Gay Dance Party
August 18 @ 9:30 PM
August 19 @ 4:00 PM
August 22 @ 12:00 PM
August 23 @ 3:45 PM
August 29 @ 7:15 PM
HERE Arts Center (Mainstage Theater)
Part of the 2009 New York
International Fringe Festival
Romance! Murder! Dancing! Honest Abe's hometown
puts a teacher on trial for asking "Was Lincoln
gay?" in this new comedy of political "values".
See the events through the eyes of the prosecution,
defense or big city reporter. You decide the order!
". . . Ingenious, hilarious." - Variety.
www.abrahamlincolnsbiggaydanceparty.com
Tickets $15. For more information or advance purchase
visit fringenyc.org/seeing/tickets.asp
or call 866-468-7619.
HERE Art Center l 154 6th
Avenue (between Spring and Broome)
Also,
check out these shows that made long treks to come
to New York and perform in The Fringe.
Photo Credit: Jon Green
Thomas
Papathanassiou's
Looming the Memory
August22 @ 12 PM
August 25 @ 5 PM
August 26 @ 9:15 PM
August 28 @ 7:15 PM
August 30 @ 5 PM
Manhattan Theatre Source
Part of the 2009 New York
International Fringe Festival
All the way from Perth, Australia. Part of the 2009
New York International Fringe Festival/FringeNYC.
The Present Company and Thomas Papathanassiou present
Looming the Memory. From her dark cellar
in a small rural village, an old Greek woman whispers
curiously to herself as she weaves rhythmically
on her loom. Ancient words flow to the other side
of the world, where her grandson is trying to understand
his life, unravelling the myth and memory of family
stories. Drawn back to Greece, he confronts the
conficting, universal immigrant experience, of a
heart inevitably split between two places. Eighteen
characters including a chicken, powerful story-telling
and engaging physical theatre combine in this intimate
and often comic performance. "…Astounding…Grabs
the audience right from the beginning and doesn’t
let go until the end.” - ArtZine, Singapore.
For more information about the show go to www.loomingthememory.com.
All tickets $15 from fringenyc.org/seeing/tickets.asp
or call 866-468-7619
Manhattan Theatre Source
l 177 MacDougal Street New York, NY 10011
(bet. 8th St & Waverly Pl.)
Subway: A,C,E,B,D,F,V to West 4th
Zack Adams: Awkward
August 16 @ 10:45 PM
August 20 @ 5:45 PM
August 23 @ 2 PM
August 24 @ 11 PM
August 29 @ 7 PM
CSV Cultural and Educational Center (Flamboyan)
Part of the 2009 New York
International Fringe Festival
Songs of Outrageous Lies, Love,
Family Faux Pas, Robots, Apricots, drawing on girls
with permanent marker and all things AWKWARD. Australian
Indie-Rock funnyman Zack Adams makes his New York
debut in this "Devastatingly funny" show
you won't want to miss! Completely revamping his
2008 Melbourne Comedy Festival show, Zack is taking
his strange brand comedy/indie rock to the next
level as he performs his latest comedy offering
at Lazy Susans. This is Zack like you've never seen
him before: Brand new songs, new guitar, new stories,
new awkwardness and, new…er, hat. ZACK ADAMS
is one of only 12 International acts (also one of
only 4 Australian acts) selected to perform as part
of the 2009 New York Fringe Festival, taking place
in August 2009.
Tickets $15. fringenyc.org/seeing/tickets.asp
For more information please visit www.zackadams.homestead.com
CSV Cultural and Educational
Center (Flamboyan)
107 Suffolk Street (Rivington & Delancey Streets)
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