The Very Best of NYC Theater

La Cage Aux Folles, Gayfest NYC, This Wide Night and More!

Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner invite you to My Trip Down The Pink Carpet, now playing at the Midtown Theater. A theatrical romp from small-town USA to the pink carpet of Hollywood, the show tells the unlikely tale of comedian Leslie Jordan (Will & Grace, Reba) in a laugh-out-loud take on Hollywood, fame, addiction, gay culture, and learning to love oneself. Raised in a conservative family in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Jordan boarded a Greyhound bus bound for L.A. with $1,200 sewn into his underpants and never looked back. His pocket-sized physique, incredible talent and penchant for high camp paved the way to a big career in commercials and on television.

Two-time Golden Globe and three-time Emmy Award-winner Edie Falco and Tony nominee Alison Pill star in the American premiere of This Wide Night at Peter Jay Sharp Theatre May 16—Jun. 20. Having just begun to rebuild a life on the outside, Marie (Pill) is confronted with her past when former cellmate Lorraine (Falco) shows up unannounced on her doorstep. The two outcasts, once so close on the inside, struggle to navigate a friendship beyond the prison walls—which may threaten their prospects to start over. This Wide Night is a heartfelt and witty portrait of two lost souls trying to find their way in an unforgiving world.

The Menier Chocolate Factory presents the Tony Award-winning musical La Cage Aux Folles, now playing at the Longacre Theatre. The production marks the Broadway musical debut of five-time Emmy Award-winning star Kelsey Grammer, who plays Georges, the suave owner of a glitzy drag club on the French Riviera. This also marks the Broadway debut of his co-star, Douglas Hodge, who recreates a critically heralded performance as Georges’ high-strung star performer and partner, Albin. The pair lives a charmed life—until Georges’ son announces his engagement to the daughter of a conservative right-wing politician, who is coming to dinner.

Theaterlab kicks off its 2010 season with the world premiere of Three Sisters Come and Go, in previews starting May 12. Set between the seemingly opposite poles of Chekhov and Beckett, the piece follows the lives of the three archetypical Chekhovian women and their desire to reconstitute their lives beyond their sense of profound loss. They inhabit a space in which “character” is the very thing they cannot escape. Yet, in the still geometry of Beckett’s Come and Go, the narrative escapes the stage, opening a door to ambiguity, inviting both actor and audience to examine a trajectory of refreshed desire.

GAYFEST NYC, the country’s premier producer of new LGBT-themed plays, presents its fourth annual festival featuring new theatre works spotlighting LGBT issues. This year’s Festival will be at the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex through Jun. 6 and will include four fully-staged productions featuring professional actors, talks with the playwrights, appearances by celebrated members of the LGBT community, plus special events. All proceeds from GAYFEST NYC benefit the Harvey Milk High School.

Amy Lord invites you to have a nosh, have a laugh, Hava Nagilia! at The Boychick Affair – The Bar Mitzvah of Harry Boychick playing at COMIX every Sunday through Jun. 20. This hilarious interactive event follows a young rapper wannabe as he becomes a man in front of his wacky but loving family. You’ll laugh. You’ll dance. You’ll eat. Spend a little time at the Bar Mitzvah that puts the ‘funk’ in ‘dysfunctional.’ Mazel Tov.

Don’t miss two-time Just for Laughs award winner Susan Jeremy in Brazil Nuts this month at La Mama E.T.C. Jeremy plays all the roles in this new comedy, co-written and directed by Mary Fulham, that tackles the very timely issue of immigrant rights. The show revolves around the experiences of Fabiana, a Brazilian die-hard soccer fan who has over-stayed her student visa; Jackie, her girlfriend who works as a dog-walker for the rainforest(?); and Ron,a porn publisher who moonlights as a stripper.


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