Lenny Bruce News

In the center of the New York City Theater District, Tony Award-winning set designer Christine Jones, in association with LOT-EK® Architects, True Love Productions and Times Square Arts, presents "Theatre for One", a four foot by eight foot portable theater with one performer playing to one audience member.

With uncanny precision and unforgettable pizzazz, John Epperson - also known as Lypsinka - pays homage to ultimate screen-queen Joan Crawford. Using the actress' own words, The Passion of the Crawford is a fantasia on the persona of this 20th Century cultural icon. Washington City Paper has called Lypsinka 'certifiably fabulous,' while the Los Angeles Times dubbed her 'a geyser of glamour!' Daily Variety raved: 'Watching a Lypsinka show is like channel-surfing in Heaven.'

With uncanny precision and unforgettable pizzazz, John Epperson - also known as Lypsinka - pays homage to ultimate screen-queen Joan Crawford. Using the actress' own words, The Passion of the Crawford is a fantasia on the persona of this 20th Century cultural icon. Washington City Paper has called Lypsinka 'certifiably fabulous,' while the Los Angeles Times dubbed her 'a geyser of glamour!' Daily Variety raved: 'Watching a Lypsinka show is like channel-surfing in Heaven.'

The final play of Florida Stage's 24th subscription season is the world premiere of a darkly funny, electric and timely new play by Carter W. Lewis, The Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider. From the award-winning author of The Storytelling Ability of a Boy and Women Who Steal, The Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider asks the questions, what happens when our 'soldiers of fortune' outnumber our army troops and can art really make a difference in a corporatized world? The Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider continues Florida Stage's first season as the resident company in the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

FRIGID New York presents A Bricken & Birch production: 'I'm Not Sure I Like the Way You Licked Me!' a solo show written and performed by Bricken Sparacino and directed by Lori Kee.

FRIGID New York presents A Bricken & Birch production: 'I'm Not Sure I Like the Way You Licked Me!' a solo show written and performed by Bricken Sparacino and directed by Lori Kee.

Growing up as the daughter of one of the most iconic comediennes of all time could not have been easy, yet Melissa Rivers has managed to carve her own place in the Hollywood landscape as a producer and television personality herself, coming after nearly a decade of co-hosting the red carpet fashion rundowns on E! and the TV GUIDE channel with her mother Joan. Her (mostly) behind-the-scenes work as a producer on E!'s weekly FASHION POLICE show starring Joan is just half of her duties, as she also stars in and produces the new WE reality series JOAN & MELISSA: JOAN KNOWS BEST? Also, she manages to find the time to be a single mom and confidant to her legendary mother - and clean up after camera crews. I was lucky enough to speak to Melissa over the weekend in anticipation of tonight's special edition FASHION POLICE: SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS on E! and Tuesday's JOAN KNOWS BEST? on WE. Also, be sure to check out my weekend feature interview with Joan Rivers, as well.

Last week, as part of a new work convening at Arena Stage, I was able to finally spark a conversation that I have been wanting to have for over a year now.Rocco Landesman, the Broadway producer responsible for a multitude of hits and current chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, published an post in his blog today which discussed the changing role of the NEA in the future, how to balance supply and demand in the arts, and more.

FRIGID New York presents A Bricken & Birch production' I'm Not Sure I Like the Way You Licked Me! a solo show written and performed by Bricken Sparacino and Directed by Lori Kee.

FRIGID New York presents A Bricken & Birch production: 'I'm Not Sure I Like the Way You Licked Me!' a solo show written and performed by Bricken Sparacino and directed by Lori Kee.

The First Amendment, that noble invention of our founding fathers that grants all Americans the right of free speech, must frequently be defended under less than noble circumstances; the right of a neo-Nazi group to hold a march in the heavily Jewish community of Skokie, Illinois, the right of Lenny Bruce to use a certain euphemism for someone who performs oral sex on a man as part of his comedy act and now... perhaps... the right of Michael Riedel to get a good seat at Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark.

Richard Myrle Buckley, aka Lord Buckley, was an American lounge comic (1906-1960), who had a cult following in the 50s; he went in for hip semantic and scat, associated with jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Pearl Bailey and Ella Fitzgerald. His word play was delivered with a cool one-of-a-kind lightening-like speed, making him a forerunner of the Beat Generation. He influenced such comics as Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and Robin Williams. Bringing him to life requires formidable skill: bold, fearless and hypnotic, all rolled into one. Jake Broder, who essayed Louis Prima on stage in Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara to critical and popular acclaim, is currently getting under the skin of Lord Buckley and creating an intense, furiously fast and deliriously brazen characterization through word and song that manifests a truly dizzying brilliance. On November 2 and 3 - back by popular demand - Broder brought the show to the Inner Circle of the Magic Castle for the second time this year.

The Magic Castle is transformed into the hippest nightclub in town for 'An Evening with His Royal Hipness, Lord Buckley'. The politically topical, Jake Broder, star and co-writer of the acclaimed 'Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara' takes off on a sonic adventure of spoken word and music, celebrating the life of the iconic, subversive, ultra hipster. Featuring Michael Lanahan, Derek Yellin (Piano), Mark San Filippo (Drums), Ryan Feves (Bass).

Lisa James directs writer/actor/comedian Nick Ullett in Dying is Easy... Comedy is Hard at The Matrix Theatre on Mondays at 8 pm from September 27 through October 25.

The Magic Castle is transformed into the hippest nightclub in town for 'An Evening with His Royal Hipness, Lord Buckley'. The politically topical, Jake Broder, star and co-writer of the acclaimed 'Louis & Keely: Live at the Sahara' takes off on a sonic adventure of spoken word and music, celebrating the life of the iconic, subversive, ultra hipster. Featuring Michael Lanahan, Derek Yellin (Piano), Mark San Filippo (Drums), Ryan Feves (Bass).

Today we have Part I of the BWW Exclusive two-part InDepth InterView with legendary stage and screen actress - and, bar none, the greatest Tennessee Williams actress alive - Tony-winning star, and a legend in her own time: Elizabeth Ashley! In this first part, we talk her early stage career from TAKE HER, SHE'S MINE directed by George Abbott and produced by Hal Prince in the 60s up to AGNES OF GOD opposite Amanda Plummer and Geraldine Page in the early 80s continuing to Tracy Letts' Pulitzer-prize winning opus AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY in 2007 - to say nothing of the central focus of our extended conversation: her most recent role playing the mother of twin sons named Otto (and/or 'otto') in Edward Albee's newest absurdist masterpiece, ME, MYSELF & I, which can currently be seen at Playrights' Horizons! From the grande dame of Williams, to life with Orson Welles, to living on the road (by choice), and a life in the theatre (no choice), Ms. Ashley is a fabulous, veritable walking, talking history of the American theatre in the last forty years and no one - I repeat, no one - can tell a story better than she can! From Mohammad Ali to Edward Albee, this interview has it all! She is one of the greats, onstage and off. There will never be another Liz Ashley and this first part is just half the reason why!

Lisa James directs writer/actor/comedian Nick Ullett in Dying is Easy... Comedy is Hard at The Matrix Theatre on Mondays at 8 pm from September 27 through October 25.

Lisa James directs writer/actor/comedian Nick Ullett in Dying is Easy... Comedy is Hard at The Matrix Theatre on Mondays at 8 pm from September 27 through October 25.

After selling out two Gay Pride shows at The Gramercy Theater, legendary comedian JOAN RIVERS returns to The Laurie Beechman Theatre in Times Square. Rivers will present an evening of her newest and most outrageous riffs on Hollywood, pop culture, celebrities, and award show fashions at The Laurie Beechman Theatre inside the West Bank Cafe (407 West 42nd Street at Ninth Avenue).

Marking its 40th anniversary, Lincoln Center Out of Doors continues its schedule of FREE performances on the plazas of Lincoln Center. The 40th annual edition of the festival presents a wide range of music and dance events by dozens of international, U.S. and local artists. Coming up on July 31 and August 1 is the annual Roots of American Music festival. Detailed descriptions of the performances, and a complete schedule, follow.