Category Archives: Celebrity
Lady Bunny Special Engagement
So excited to return to the legendary Stonewall Inn for my first ever Christmas show! Expect plenty of raunchy version of Christmas carols, side-splitting one-liners and pop parodies to boot. And you’ll get to meet E-Bunny-Neezer Scrooge, in a demented skit with a cameo by the one and only (thank god!) Bianca Del Rio. Well, not in person, but via recording from LA. Drag Race favorites are skewered as well, and you must meet Lardi B, my version of hip-hop sensation Cardi B.
Christmas Leftovers is a last minute endeavor which came together after seeing a supremely silly performance at Joe’s Pub by my friend John Roberts, who does the voice of Linda on Bob’s Burgers. I also miss Stonewall after my long run of Trans-jester! So I’m back, with a hodge podge of both old and new favorites. Why watch Mariah Carey butcher All I Want For Christmas when you can see me struggle for to hit those high notes? The news is currently so wretched that I just wanted to bring you some holiday glad tidings.
6 shows only beginning December 22nd at 7PM. $25 + 2 drink minimum. 21 and up.
For more info/tix, please visit: https://www.brownpapertickets.
Broadway Cares holiday CD
Dear Evan Hansen, Come From Away, Hamilton, Waitress and A Bronx Tale.
The Christmas season is in full show tune swing now that the 19th volume of Broadway’s Carols for a Cure has arrived. The latest compilation from the beloved series continues Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ tradition of pairing the casts from award-winning Broadway musicals with seasonal songs that are both classic and new. Once again, the result is pure magic and is sure to help make the 2017 holiday season shine brighter than ever before.
“These are all new, original recordings, creatively arranged and performed by the incredibly talented performers and musicians from the 2017 Broadway season,” explains producer Lynn Pinto who, once again, collaborates with engineer Andros Rodriguez on the album. Pinto allows each company a great deal of freedom in choosing the material and the style of the arrangement. She adds, “We record the musicians and singers in layers, utilizing isolation booths for a higher quality recording. It gives the album a unique sound from most cast albums and allows us to showcase some of the best voices and instrumentalists in the world.”
The first Broadway’s Carols for a Cure album debuted in 1999, making this year’s album the 19th in the annual series. Fans of Broadway will be overjoyed to hear recordings from Tony Award winning casts of Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton, Come From Away and many more:
Highlights are copious but include Billy Porter and the cast of Kinky Boots singing an all-new, rockin’ version of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and the cast of A Bronx Tale performing “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day” in a New Yawker-style that will have listeners humming for days.Additionally, Meghan Toohey (Sara Barielles’ long-time guitarist) serves up a lovely 1960s-style original song, “Wonder What You Got For Me,” featuring the talented Anastacia McCleskey and the rest of the company and band from Waitress; and Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, the composer/lyricist team behind Anastasia perform their original carol, “All Those Christmas Cliches,” along with their award-winning cast.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is a nonprofit organization that helps individuals with serious illnesses including AIDS receive the health care and support they need. In addition, they provide financial support in the form of grants to AIDS and family service organizations throughout the country.
“The 19th volume of Broadway’s Carols for a Cure is the best yet,” promises Lynn Pinto. “It exudes such warmth, like a cozy blanket on a snowy Winter’s day.”
The 2-CD set is in the web store at BroadwayCares.org or by calling Broadway Cares at 212-840-0770.
Rick Skye as Liza! Nov. 25th
RICK SKYE STARS AS LIZA MINNELLI
IN
DON’T TELL MAMA’S NEW HIT SHOW
BAZAZZ!
A SEQUINED VARIETY
Saturday, November 25th
Rick Skye, who won the 2017 MAC Award for “Best Impersonation,” opened Don’t Tell Mama’s new monthly variety show Bazaaz! A Sequined Variety last month to a sold-out audience and the media is buzzing. In New York magazine said, “There’s a new sequined variety show in town that is a must see!”
The show features Skye’s heralded impersonation as Liza Minnelli singing in his own voice and showcases award-winning impersonations, guest performers and Skye’s Kit Kat Boyz. Bazaaz! A Sequined Variety will next play on Saturday, November 25th at 8:00PM.
Liz Smith said, “Save your Saturday nights every month, from now on. Why? Because down at New York’s famous Don’t Tell Mama cabaret,Rick Skye is the host with the most at Bazazz! A Sequined Variety. Skye’s impersonation of Minnelli is sensitive, boisterous and moving although ’impersonation’ is too banal a word for his affectionate, on-target work.”
Skye is well-known in London and New York for having written and performed in a series of outrageously comic, award-winning shows including The Flip Side of Neil Sedaka, which earned him a Bistro Award, A Slice O’Minnelli and The War of the Mama Roses. His show Its Madame with an E! played Atlantic City and Las Vegas and brought him to television where he appeared on Watch What Happens, Live! With Andy Cohen and Celebrity Apprentice as well as Fox & Friends and the WB. His most recent success was Judy and Liza Together Again which closed after an unprecedented seven-year run at Don’t Tell Mama’s and garnered two MAC Awards.
He has performed in many shows as Liza Minnelli in a number of hit shows that played internationally. He co-starred with Steven Brinberg in the London production of Barbra and Liza LIVE! which played the Dublin Gay Theater Festival and he toured with Liza LIVE! playing the New Players Theater in London and many spots in England. A Slice O’ Minnelli enjoyed successful seasons at the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End, The Dublin and Edinburgh Festivals, and from cities New York to Chicago. Critics called Skye “Masterful…Astonishing…
Skye’s special guests in November’s Bazaaz! A Sequined Variety will include Steven Brinberg as Barbra Streisand and entertainer Sidney Myer. Cabaret favorite Rick Ritzel is the evening’s Musical Director.
Bazaaz! A Sequined Variety will also play on:
Friday, December 29 – Guest stars TBA
Sunday, December 31 – Guest stars TBA
Don’t Tell Mama’s is located at 343 West 46th Street in New York City. There is a $20.00 Cover/2 Drink Minimum (Cash only). Reservations can be made at www.donttellmamanyc.com.
Torch Song with Michael Urie
Michael Urie takes on Harvey Fierstein’s epic play
Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song was originally written as a trilogy of three plays, but is now more commonly performed as one play in three acts. Centering around a gay Jewish drag performance artist and torch singer as he searches for love, purpose, and family, this epic, four-hour work focuses on three different periods in Arnold’s turbulent life. Dealing with heartbreak, bigotry from close quarters and raising a family, this touching drama first premiered in 1978, Off-Off Broadway. Torch Song will be helmed by Moises Kaufman and star Michael Urie, the Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel and LA Critics Award winning actor of Buyer & Cellar.
An iconic play returns to New York
Fierstein’s drama arrived on Broadway in 1982, winning two Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play (Fierstein) running for an epic 1,222 performances, before being adapted for the silver screen in 1988, also starring Fierstein, Matthew Broderick and Anne Bancroft, and directed by Paul Bogart. – As a young boy seeing this in 1982, I was awestruck and emotionally moved! And to see it with Matthew Broderick and Estelle Getty! What a cast!
Michael Urie first came to international prominence in the hit TV show Ugly Betty, and has since appeared as an immature NSA contractor on The Good Wife. On stage, he is most well-known for his one-man led show Buyer and Cellar, which premiered Off- 2013 to rapturous reviews, winning the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show. Urie’s performance was universally praised for playing multiple roles in the show, including Barbra Streisand! Now he is set to take on the role that Fierstein wrote and originated himself.
More info at 2ndStage
Cher Show Heading to Broadway
It’s official – the new musical using Cher’s songs to tell her story — with three actresses playing different aspects of her life — is heading for Broadway 2018.
“The Cher Show” will play first in Chicago, beginning performances June 12 at the Oriental Theater and running for five weeks. It will then transfer to the Neil Simon Theater on Broadway, opening next fall, the producers, Flody Suarez and Jeffrey Seller, said Thursday.
“We have been discussing this musical for 10 years,” Cher, a pop star and Academy Award-winning actress, said in a statement. “It’s exciting and scary.”
The musical has an unusual approach — it will be structured like a variety show, nodding to “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour,” which helped propel her to celebrity in the 1970s. The show currently features all or part of 35 to 40 of Cher’s best known songs.
“The Cher Show” is one of many jukebox biomusicals now in development, including “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” also featuring three actresses playing the title role, which is scheduled to run this fall at La Jolla Playhouse in California; “Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations,” now playing at Berkeley Repertory Theater in California; and “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” which is scheduled to open in London next spring.
Max Emerson’s HOOKED June 26
Max Emerson & NewFest to Debut the U.S. Premiere of Hooked , An Original Film on LGBT Homeless Youth
Instagram Icon Max Emerson (@Maxisms) will premiere his crowdfunded film Hooked in New York City on Monday, June 26th.
The feature film Hooked , written and directed by Instagram superstar Max Emerson, will make its U.S. premiere on Monday June 26th at 8pm. Hooked received its world premiere last month at Toronto’s Inside Out Festival, propelled by more than $200,000 in crowdfunded donations from over one thousand participants.
The premiere is presented in partnership with NewFest: New York’s LFBT Film & Media Arts Organization and the Ali Forney Center.
Hooked tells the story of Jack, a homeless teenage prostitute with a smart mouth and impulsive tendencies. He battles through a violent world of reckless “Johns” between New York City and Miami, desperately seeking a better life with his boyfriend Tom. This timely narrative feature debut from Emerson poignantly captures the under-covered plight of LGBTQ youth. Funded through crowdsourcing and a commitment to donating to LGBTQ organizations, Hooked is proof that cinema can tell powerful stories of underrepresented populations while directly giving back to the community. Half of all proceeds from Hooked will be donated to LGBTQ homeless youth shelters including Ali Forney Center, Albert Kennedy Trust, LA LGBT Center and Lost N’ Found.
All proceeds from this evening will benefit homeless LGBTQ youth via the Ali Forney Center. The film premieres at 8:00pm, preceded by a 6:30pm cocktail reception. Tickets are $25 ($15 for NewFest Members) and can be purchased
here: newfest.org/film/hooked . VIP tickets are also available for $75 and include a “meet and greet” with Max and a gift bag. Both tickets include cocktail reception.
There will be a talkback directly following the screening with Max Emerson and the cast and crew.
The film stars Conor Donnally, Katie McClellan (NBC’s Believe) , Terrance Murphy (USA’s Burn Notice ), Sean Ormond, Jared Sandler (CBS’s Kevin Can Wait ), Casper Andreas (Kiss Me, Kill Me) and Steve Hayes (Trick). Max Emerson and Melissa Llewellyn serve as producers, alongside executive producer (and GLAAD Board Member) Anthony Watson.
Writer & Director Max Emerson says: “I couldn’t be more excited to finally be sharing this piece with my community. Working with NewFest and Ali Forney Center is such an honor, and has been nothing less than a pleasure. It’s taken countless time and effort from everyone involved in this project, so it’s a real treat to finally be able to put this little melodrama out into the world.”
“NewFest has a long history of supporting emerging filmmakers and community partners,” said Robert Kushner, Executive Director of NewFest . “Max Emerson’s poignant debut feature Hooked is an opportunity to celebrate a new voice in filmmaking, while shining a light on marginalized members of the LGBT community via The Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBT youth.”
“As longtime partners with Max Emerson, the Ali Forney Center is humbled and honored to be a beneficiary of his first feature-length film, which we have so proudly watched grow from idea to reality,” said Carl Siciliano, founder and Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center . “Support and generosity from individuals like Max helps educate people worldwide about the perils of LGBTQ youth homelessness, and for that we are most grateful.”
Max Emerson ( @Maxisms ) is an actor, model, YouTuber, activist and media personality. Well known in the gay and entertainment landscapes, he’s built a rabid fanbase among his 750,000+ Instagram followers with his adventurous spirit, good looks and fearless attitude. Max has been seen on numerous TV shows including ABC’s The Real O’Neals and FOX’s Glee, and is often recognized from ad campaigns with major brands like Abercrombie and Target. He recently wrote, directed and produced his first feature length film Hooked and is the author of Hot Sissy, now available via his website: www.maxismsmedia.com.
Founded in 1988, NewFest is a non-profit 501(C)(3) dedicated to giving voice and visibility to the full spectrum of the LGBT experience through year-round screenings, community empowerment programs, and our signature annual event, New York’s LGBT Film Festival. As the largest convener of LGBT audiences in New York, we proudly shine a light on the diverse stories that make our community unique, while nurturing and supporting the filmmakers whose work inspires dialogue, shifts cultural bias and creates positive
change. For information on our programs, partnerships, or how to support, visit www.NewFest.org .
The Ali Forney Center ‘s mission is to protect LGBTQ youths from the harms of homelessness and empower them with the tools needed to live independently. Since AFC’s launch with just six beds in a church basement, the organization has grown to become the largest agency dedicated to LGBTQ homeless youths in the country—assisting nearly 1,400 youths per year through a 24-hour Drop-In Center which provides over 70,000 meals annually, medical and mental health services through an on-site clinic, and a scattered site housing program.
INFORMATION ABOUT HOOKED:
www.HookedProject.com
Trailer: http://bit.ly/HookedTrailer Photos/Poster: http://bit.ly/
INFORMATION ABOUT MAX:
www.youtube.com/TheMaxVicious www.instagram.com/Maxisms www.maxismsmedia.com
Bette Midler Wins TONY Award
CONGRATS TO BETTE!
Great speech and she took time to honor Carol Channing and Pearl Bailey, it’s and class!
She shuts down the orchestra!
See Glenn Close present Bette Midler with the Tony Award for Best Performance By An Actress In A Leading Role In A Musical for her work in Hello, Dolly! WATCH.
CHER on Broadway 2018
A musical based on Cher‘s life is slated to debut on Broadway in 2018. The singer confirmed the news on Tuesday night on her Twitter account.
“Just got off phone w/Writer & Director of musical,” Cher wrote. “There will [be] performance in theatre with actors, dancers, singers!! It’ll be on Broadway 2018.”
News of a possible musical production tracing Cher’s life – and using Cher’s extensive catalog of pop hits – surfaced in January, when the singer attended a read-through of the production. According to The New York Post, Jason Moore, known for Pitch Perfect, will direct. Rick Elice, of Jersey Boys, penned the musical. Three different actresses will portray Cher at various points in her life. At the read-through, one of the actresses was Tony Award-winner Lena Hall.
After Cher attended the event in January, she tweeted her support for the project. “Just walked [off] the musical,” she wrote. “I SOBBED & LAUGHED & I WAS PREPARED NOT 2 LIKE IT. AUDIENCE CLAPPED AFTER SONGS & GAVE IT STANDING OVATION.”
Earlier this year, the singer accepted the Icon Award at the Billboard Music Awards. “I’ve wanted to do what I do since I was four years-old,” she said during her speech. “And I’ve been doing it for 53 years … I’m 71 yesterday. And I can do a five-minute plank, ok? Just saying.”
Harvey Fierstein in gently Down the Stream
THIS IS SOOOOOO EXCITING!!!!!!
Gabriel Ebert will join fellow Tony winner Harvey Fierstein in the world premiere of Martin Sherman’s Gently Down the Stream at the Public Theater.
The off-Broadway production will begin performances on March 14, 2017 and run through April 23 (instead of the previously announced April 16).
Sean Mathias directs the staging, which is set to open on April 5.
The cast will also include off-Broadway alum Christopher Sears.
SYNOPSIS: Beau, a pianist expat living in London meets Rufus, an eccentric young lawyer, at the dawn of the internet dating revolution. After a life spent recovering from the disappointment and hurt of loving men in a world that refused to allow it, Beau is determined to keep his expectations low with Rufus.
But Rufus comes from a new generation of gay men who believe happiness is as much their right as anyone else’s, and what Beau assumed would be just another fling grows into one of the most surprising and defining relationships of his life. A remarkably moving, brilliantly funny love story, Gently Down the Stream reflects the triumphs and heartbreaks of the entire length of the gay rights movement, celebrating and mourning the ghosts of the men and women who led the way for equality, marriage and the right to dream.
You Need to Know Your Gay History—Says Harvey Fierstein
The Tony winner unearths the emotional past of the gay rights movement in Gently Down the Stream.
“You’re going to put in the work either way, whatever you do,” he says. “You’re still dedicating this amount of hours, this amount of time, and pieces of your life and your energy. Why do something that’s trivial garbage when you can do something that has higher aims?”
Fierstein has been telling gay stories onstage for more than 30 years, and has long been a vocal defender of LGBT rights. It seems only fitting that he would feel drawn to this play, which depicts key moments and icons of the gay rights movement. “It’s really important,” says the actor. “Gay history got washed out and washed over, but unless you know who you were, you can’t know where you’re going.”
What Fierstein relishes about playing Beau is the ways in which the character has been shaped by his history and his era. “He survived through these periods—[but that] he didn’t come through it whole is what I think I love most about him,” says Fierstein.
“He talks about himself as somebody who walks around with excess scar tissue. I like to think that I too have excess scar tissue, but I’d like to think that I’ve recovered more. And that’s what makes him fascinating to play. You don’t want to play yourself. You don’t have to get a script to do that.” Because for Fierstein, there’s just no interest if the work is too easy.
Director: Sean Mathias
Starring: Harvey Fierstein, Gabriel Ebert, Christopher Sears
Show Times: Tuesday – Friday @7:30pm; Saturday – Sunday @1:30pm and 7:30pm
Tickets from $50 publictheater.com Playwright: Martin Sherman
Michael Urie in Torch Song Revival
Second Stage Theatre has announced that it will stage a 35th anniversary production of Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy this fall starring Buyer & Cellar’s Michael Urie as Arnold Beckoff.
Fierstein has provided director Moisés Kaufman with a newly edited text; the revival will be titled simply Torch Song.
“It’s 1979 in New York City and Arnold Beckoff is on a quest for love, purpose and family,“ read 2ST production notes. “He’s fierce in drag and fearless in crisis, and he won’t stop until he achieves the life he desires as a doting husband and a Jewish mother. Now, Arnold is back…and he’s here to sing you a torch song. The Tony-winning play that forever changed the trajectory of Broadway returns for a new generation.“
“’Thirty-five years?’ I thought, ‘It’s time!’ I’m thrilled that Second Stage Theatre will be reviving Torch Song Trilogy next season,” commented Fierstein in a press statement. “In conversation, I’ve been encouraging director Moisés Kaufman to look at the play with fresh eyes. I would never think of rewriting the plays but have given him a newly edited text that re-conceives the way I want the story told. Theatre is a living breathing entity and so are audiences. Even the most faithful stage recreations are tinted by the moment in which they are experienced. I’ve asked [2ST artistic director] Carole Rothman to call the evening simply, Torch Song, and let’s see what truths we can preserve, what histories we can rediscover and what futures we can forge together. Living theatre has always been my life’s goal.”
After an acclaimed Off-Broadway debut, Torch Song Trilogy opened on Broadway in June 1982 and played an award-winning three-year engagement at the Little Theatre (now the Helen Hayes Theatre). Fierstein played the lead role of Arnold Beckoff, a gay drag performer in a tempestuous relationship with his bisexual, closeted lover. The play won Fierstein two Tony awards—both as playwright (for Best Play) and for Best Actor. It was produced throughout the country and also turned into a film in 1988 starring Fierstein, Matthew Broderick, and Anne Bancroft.
Torch Song is set to begin previews September 26 and will officially open in late October at Off-Broadway’s Tony Kiser Theatre. Additional casting and a complete creative team will be announced at a later date.
Devils Wears Prada on Broadway!
“Is there some reason that my coffee isn’t here? Has she died or something?”
That’s a snippet of Meryl Streep’s dialogue from the 2006 comedy The Devil Wears Prada. Now Sir Elton John and Paul Rudnick are writing a musical adaptation for Broadway.
DEADLINE reports, A production timeline is TBA for the show, which will be produced by Kevin McCollum, Fox Stage Productions and John’s Rocket Entertainment. The ’70s hitmaker and Lion King and Aida composer said of the new project: “Re-imagining The Devil Wears Prada for the musical theatre is super exciting. I’m a huge fan of both the book and the feature film and a huge aficionado of the fashion world. I can’t wait to sink my musical teeth into this hunk of popular culture.”
“To bring The Devil Wears Prada to the stage, we knew we needed to find artists as inimitable as the characters in the story,” Bob Cohen of Fox Stage Productions and McCollum said a joint statement. “We needed artists whose work has run the gamut from music and publishing to drama and fashion. We could think of only two names: Elton John and Paul Rudnick. That’s all!” John is writing the music, and Rudnick is penning the book and lyrics.
Rudnick’s myriad credits include Broadway’s I Hate Hamlet and such other stage fare as Jeffrey and The New Century, along with the the screenplays for In & Out and Addams Family Values. He also has authored novels and written for The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue and other magazines.
KISS ME KILL ME on DVD
FINALLY! After touring the world for over a year at Film Festivals this awesome Casper Andreas movie, KISS ME KILL ME, will be available on VOD & DVD December 7th!
FULL OF STARS! From director Casper Andreas (“Going Down in LA-LA Land”) and screenwriter David Michael Barrett (“Such Good People”) comes “Kiss Me, Kill Me,” a sexy gay thriller. Dusty (“As the World Turns” four-time Emmy nominee Van Hansis) blacks out while confronting his cheating boyfriend Stephen, (“Queer as Folk” gay icon Gale Harold). When Dusty comes to, Stephen was murdered and he’s the prime suspect. The movie also stars Brianna Brown (“Devious Maids”), Yolonda Ross (HBO’s “The Get Down”), Jai Rodriguez (“Queer Eye”), Matthew Ludwinski (“Going Down in LA-LA Land”), Craig Robert Young (“The Last Ship”), Kit Williamson (“Mad Men”), Jonathan Lisecki (“Gayby”), D.J. “Shangela” Pierce (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”) and Michael Maize (“Mr. Robot”).
I have always enjoyed a good who-done-it. Growing up, I was a huge fan of both Agatha Christie novels and suspense thrillers, so when screenwriter David Michael Barrett sent me the script for KISS ME, KILL ME, I got very excited. Not only was this a bona-fide murder mystery, it was centered in a world I am very familiar with – gay West Hollywood. We had quite an extensive development period, which gave me plenty of time to school myself in film noir. David’s knowledge of the genre was extensive, and the screenplay pays homage to many of the greats, from Hitchcock to DePalma to even Verhoeven.
One of the things I loved most about the script was that it wasn’t a spoof of a thriller; it was the real thing. It also didn’t take itself too seriously, and even had characters commenting on the outrageous events, often balancing them with humor. I knew this script would be a challenge on such a limited budget, but I was excited to, for the first time, shoot scenes of violence and suspense. After all, what’s more fun that car chases, dream sequences, gun and knife fights? I love to challenge myself, and I’m determined to make each film better than my last. I never went to film school. Being an actor, I picked up a lot about production on set, but it wasn’t until I was actually directing and producing that I truly became a filmmaker. I have worked in a variety of genres, from serious dramas, like my award-winning Swedish-language short “A Last Farewell,” to comedies, a musical, and relationship dramedies. But there is nothing more exciting than taking on a new genre.
“Kiss Me, Kill Me” is my seventh feature film as a director/producer. I am proud to work in LGBTQ cinema, and tell the stories of my community, but I don’t see myself as a “gay filmmaker.” Every movie I’ve made explores universal themes, that all kinds of audiences can relate to, like my last film, “Going Down In LA-LA Land,” which has consistently been one of Netflix’s top viewed dramas. It was an extraordinary experience to see so many people come together to help make KISS ME, KILL ME, not just our crew but our Kickstarter backers, too. The movie has played in over three-dozen festivals all over the world. I’m proud of that. And that’s a testament to how much everyone loves a good mystery. Just like me.
