LYPINSKA! THE BOXED SET Returning to NYC This Month

A glamorous dose of the legendary Lypsinka, John Epperson's iconic creation, will once again be doled out this summer when the acclaimed LYPSINKA! THE BOXED SET returns for a limited Off-Broadway engagement. LYPSINKA! THE BOXED SET will be performed Wednesday, July 22nd through Saturday, September 12th at the ravishing jewel-box Connelly Theater, located at 220 East 4th Street (between Avenues A and B) in Manhattan's East Village. The Opening is Saturday, July 25th at 8 PM. Tickets ($35 - $65) will go on sale on Monday, April 27th at 10 am online at www.lypsinka.com and www.tweedtheater.org/lypsinka, or by calling 866-811-4111.

After sold-out performances last Fall as part of LYPSINKA! THE TRILOGY, the acclaimed celebration of the staggering three-decade reign of the 'Goddess of Showbiz', LYPSINKA! THE BOXED SET returns to dazzle theatre-goers this summer. This award-winning revue of Lyp's greatest bits has toured the world, flabbergasting audiences from Los Angeles to Glasgow to Sydney. Using a soundtrack created from films, musicals, and concert recordings, the supreme archivist of irony showcases the modern challenge of being overly-blessed with femininity, ego and celebrity.

The return engagement of LYPSINKA! THE BOXED SET will feature additional special material which will change weekly during the eight-week run.

LYPSINKA! THE BOXED SET, directed by Kevin Malony, has a soundtrack created by John Epperson and engineered by Alex Noyes. LYPSINKA! THE BOXED SET has set design by Jim Boutin, costumes by Bryant Hoven, lighting design by Mark Simpson, and sound design by Matt Berman. Garrett Kerr is the Production Stage Manager.

LYPSINKA! THE BOXED SET is presented by Kenneth Jay Lane; TWEED TheaterWorks, Kevin Malony, Artistic Director; Joseph A. Berger and Gerald Herman. Chris Dieman and Bill Coyle are Co-Producers. Ed Cachianes is the Associate Producer.

JOHN EPPERSON was born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, a long way from the exciting worlds in which LYPSINKA travels: movies (Witch Hunt with Dennis Hopper, Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, Wigstock: The Movie, Angels In America, Kinsey, Another Gay Movie, Another Gay Sequel); television (HBO specials Sandra After Dark with Sandra Bernhard, and Dragtime; George Michael's video Too Funky, PBS's The United States Of Poetry and special features on the Mommie Dearest and Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? DVDs); fashion (appearing in the Paris, Tokyo and Los Angeles shows of haute couture designer Thierry Mugler, modeling for Valentino, Pauline Trigere, Barneys New York, and launching lines of cosmetics for Prescriptives, MAC, and Isabella Rossellini); advertisements (The Gap, LA Eyeworks, Naya Spring Water, Ilford Film); theater, including I Could Go On Lip-Synching!, The Fabulous Lypsinka Show, Lypsinka! Now It Can Be Lip-Synched, Lypsinka! A Day In The Life (New York Theater Workshop, two Drama Desk nominations, including Most Unique Theatrical Experience; revived in 1993 Off Broadway at The Cherry Lane Theatre), Lypsinka! As I Lay Lip-Synching, Lypsinka Must Be Destroyed!, Lypsinka IS Harriet Craig!, Lypsinka! The Boxed Set (2001 Drama Desk nomination, Washington, D.C. Helen Hayes Award win for Outstanding Non-Resident Production / Outstanding Lead Actor nomination, wins for Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle Award, Best Sound Design and L.A. Weekly Theatre Award for Best Solo Performance); and special events (such as Doin' What Comes Natur'lly, on Broadway with Bette Midler, Elaine Stritch and Patti LuPone, and London's Meltdown Festival curated by Morrissey). Formerly a rehearsal pianist at American Ballet Theatre, Mr. Epperson's theatrical career was launched in the mid-1980s when he wrote the book, lyrics and music of Ballet of the Dolls and Dial "M" For Model at La Mama ETC. The year 1999 brought Epperson's dramatic stage debut in Messages for Gary at The New York Fringe Festival. In 2004 Mr. Epperson appeared Off Broadway in The Roaring Girle with The Foundry Theatre. The same year he was the subject of a stage festival at DC's Studio Theatre, which included his autobiographical piece John Epperson: Show Trash, As I Lay Lip-Synching, and his play, My Deah: Medea for Dummies, the Medea tale set in The New South. Also in 2004 Epperson played The Stepmother in the New York City Opera production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella at Lincoln Center's New York State Theater. The play My Deah opened in an Obie Award-winning production Off-Broadway in October 2006 and is now published and licensed by Samuel French. His acclaimed Off-Broadway show The Passion of the Crawford, a fantasia on the personality of Joan Crawford, toured to California, Florida and Washington, D.C. Lypsinka launched the 2007 Spring collection of MAC Cosmetics centered around the Barbie doll. Epperson's version of James Kirkwood's infamous play Legends! was produced at Studio Theatre in DC, Summer 2010. In 2014 in New York City, Epperson devoted himself to a unique challenge for a solo performer by performing three of his shows in repertory under the umbrella title LYPSINKA! THE TRILOGY. Epperson and Lypsinka are the subjects of an Emmy-winning television documentary for PBS. He provided the preface for the Rizzoli photo book Persona, and is the author of a new screenplay Happy Everything. Mr. Epperson has also written for The Guardian (U.K.), The New York Times, The Washington Post and Interview and The Daily Beast.

Kevin Malony (Director) has worked as a producer and director for over thirty years. His work has been seen at venues like Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, La Mama, HERE, Abrons Arts Center and Town Hall. As Artistic Director of TWEED TheaterWorks, Malony has produced and presented the work of artists like John Kelly, Antony Hegarty, Mark Dendy and Bill Russell. Through the TWEED Fractured Classicks Series, Malony has directed Isabella Rossellini, Lily Tomlin, Joan Rivers, Charles Busch, Wallace Shawn, and Carole Shelley, amongst many others.

LYPSINKA! THE BOXED SET will be performed Wednesday, July 22nd - Saturday, September 12th, 2015 at The Connelly Theater (220 East 4th Street, between Avenues A & B). The Opening is Saturday, July 25th at 8 PM.

The regular performance schedule is: Monday and Thursday at 7 PM; Friday and Saturday at 8 PM, and Sunday at 5 PM (the first preview on Wednesday, July 22nd at 7 PM is an added performance).

Tickets for LYPSINKA! THE BOXED SET range in price from $35-$65. Tickets will be available beginning Monday, April 27th at 10am online at www.lypsinka.com and www.tweedtheater.org, or by calling 866-811-4111.