Bridget Barkan to Bring DEAR STRANGER, I LOVE YOU to Joe's Pub, 4/18
By: BWW News Desk Mar. 17, 2015
Barkan's striking vocal talent and wit, compounded by her irresistible magnetism, come into full view in Dear Stranger. This new show completes a trilogy, which started with The Love Junkie, a show about her addiction to love, and continued with Dirty Laundry, a show about her failures in love and getting clean. In Dear Stranger, Barkan comes full circle with a message of universal love - one that can ultimately unite people, especially in today's troubled times in New York City and beyond. She leads her audience on a musical journey woven with by her signature storytelling, original music and covers, improvisation and world class guests.
In an interview with NEXT Magazine, Del Marquis said, "Bridget is a creative library... I can throw any idea at her, and she runs with it. It's a flexibility of the creative mind that makes her potential limitless. If she was just a singer I would say she's a virtuoso, but it also has to do with her performance and acting background that allows her to inhabit so much versatility in voice and delivery."
Bridget Barkan is a native New Yorker who has been working since birth. From childhood, Barkan has been inspired by both the stage shows of Whoopi Goldberg, Lily Tomlin and Laurie Anderson and the music of artists ranging from Joni Mitchell to Erykah Badu. As a singer, Barkan has toured the world with pop/glam band the Scissor Sisters, sung with Lily Allen, and recorded with legendary house DJ and producer Todd Terry in addition to releasing her own albums and singles.
Starting out as a child actress, Barkan appeared in commercials and Sesame Street, continuing to current day in films like HBO's Everyday People, Sherrybaby with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Brian De Palma's controversial Redacted and, most recently, God's Pocket, alongside Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Barkan had a guest role in Steven Soderbergh's TV show The Knick, and a recurring role as the one-legged hooker on Law & Order: SVU. On stage, Barkan has appeared in various Manhattan Theatre Club productions, was in the original production of Dog Sees God, and a workshop of hit Broadway show Spring Awakening.
Barkan shows her chops with genre-bending shows that employ both her love of song, character building and storytelling. Not only a shape shifter with accents and body language, she is also a vocal chameleon seamlessly riffing her way through jazz, soul, R&B, folk, electronic and traditional musical theater songs. Some have said she is like the secret child of Cindy Sherman and John Waters, raised by the ghost of Janis Joplin. In addition to her own marquee shows, she performs with the band Slow Knights (Del Marquis, Xavier, Rod Thomas) and appears regularly with fellow NYC-based artists Bright Light Bright Light, Lady Rizo, Murray Hill and Joey Arias.
Barkan is a member of the inaugural class of Pub Club, the Joe's Pub Artist-in-Residence Program.
For tickets, go online at joespub.com, call 10AM-7PM daily at 212-967-7555, or visit in person at The Public Theater Box Office, 425 Lafayette Street, NYC. The Public's Box Office window opens daily at 2PM.
ABOUT JOE'S PUB AT THE PUBLIC Named for Public Theater founder Joe Papp, Joe's Pub at The Public opened in 1998 and plays a vital role in The Public's mission of supporting young artists while providing established artists with an intimate space to perform and develop new work. Joe's Pub consistently presents the best in live music and performance nightly, continuing its commitment to diversity, production values, community and artistic freedom. The organization also offers unique opportunities like New York Voices, an artist commissioning program that provides musicians the resources and tools needed to develop original theater works. Commissioned artists have included Ethan Lipton, Toshi Reagon, Bridget Everett, Allen Toussaint and more. In 2011, the Pub received a top-to-bottom renovation, leading to improved sightlines, expanded seating capacity and a new menu from acclaimed Chef Andrew Carmellini. With its intimate atmosphere and superior acoustics, Joe's Pub presents talent from all over the world as part of The Public's programming downtown at its Astor Place home, hosting approximately 800 shows and serving over 100,000 audience members annually.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC THEATER AT ASTOR PLACE Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public Theater is the only theater in New York that produces Shakespeare and the classics, musicals, contemporary and experimental pieces in equal measure. The Public continues the work of its visionary founder, Joe Papp, by acting as an advocate for the theater as an essential cultural force, and leading and framing dialogue on some of the most important issues of our day. Creating theater for one of the largest and most diverse audience bases in New York City for nearly 60 years, today the Company engages audiences in a variety of venues-including its landmark downtown home at Astor Place, which houses five theaters and Joe's Pub; the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, home to its beloved, free Shakespeare in the Park; and the Mobile Unit, which tours Shakespearean productions for underserved audiences throughout New York City's five boroughs. The Public's wide range of programming includes free Shakespeare in the Park, the bedrock of the Company's dedication to making theater accessible to all, new and experimental stagings at The Public at Astor Place, and a range of artist and audience development initiatives including its Public Forum series, which brings together theater artists and professionals from a variety of disciplines for discussions that shed light on social issues explored in Public productions. The Public Theater is located on property owned by the City of New York and receives annual support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. The LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust provides leadership support for The Public Theater's year-round activities.
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