Jackie Hoffman, Justin Vivian Bond, Sandra Bernhard and More Among Holiday Lineup at Joe's Pub, Nov-Dec 2013
By: BWW News Desk Nov. 05, 2013
Joe's Pub at The Public welcomes the faithful and the faithless this holiday season with a winter program that includes Yiddish lullabies, kvetching, yuletide cheer, anti-consumerist sermons, sports, jazz, storytelling and of course Sandra Bernhard's hilarious and entertaining end-of-year free for all. Let the holiday hijinks begin. All shows are on sale now at www.joespub.com.
Featuring: Reverend Billy, Inna Barmash, Men in Blazers, The Long Christmas Dinner, John Roberts and Mike Errico, Jackie Hoffman, The Hot Sardines, Starsky + Cox, Justin VivIan Bond and Sandra Bernhard. Details below!
REVEREND BILLY AND THE STOP SHOPPING CHOIR
November 24, December 1, 8, 15 and 22 at 2:30 PM
$15
Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir sprang, full throated from the forehead of New York City a decade ago. They have been performing their remarkable show in fields, parking lots, theaters, malls, churches, government buildings and bank lobbies all over the world ever since. Serious political satire and driving gospel music invite audiences into a state of euphoric soul searching. In recent years the company has turned their attention toward climate change and the crisis of the earth. The Stop Shopping Choir's third full length CD Earthalujah! is just completed. Reverend Billy is the recipient of an Obie award, The Alpert award for theater and has been arrested more than 50 times. Directed by Savitri D., music director Nehemiah Luckett. The Stop Shopping Choir is a 35 voice choir accompanied by the 5 piece Not Buying it Band. "It's an art. It's an act. It's almost a religion." - New York Times
INNA BARMASH: YIDDISH LULLABIES AND LOVE SONGS
November 27 at 7:30 PM
$20 Advance / $25 Door
Yiddish songs - twinkling lullabies and earnest songs of love and love gone wrong. Raw, beautiful and elegant in their simplicity, many of the songs are rarely heard treasures of old Soviet era anthologies of songs collected in the shtetls of Ukraine in the 1920s. Inna Barmash's first started singing in Yiddish back in her home city of Vilnius, Lithuania as a child in the late 80s. This concert celebrates the release of Inna's new recording of Yiddish love songs and lullabies and is a return to Inna's roots as a Yiddish singer after many years of performing gypsy and folk repertoire from Russia and Romania in her band Romashka and exploring contemporary folk-inspired music as part of her husband's band Ljova & the Kontraband. Joining Inna on stage are Lev 'Ljova' Zhurbin (viola/fadolin), Shoko Nagai (piano/accordion), Dmitry 'Zisl' Slepovitch (clarinet) and Dmitry Ishenko (bass).
MEN IN BLAZERS: FIRST ANNUAL HOLIDAY PANTOMIME
December 9 at 9:30 PM
SOLD OUT
In honor of the holiday season, your Men In Blazers return to Joe's Pub to revel in mistletoe, holly, brandy, Hanukkah candles, and football, football, football. There will be guests, there will be carols. We may even get a choir. All Great Friends of the Pod are invited, whether they have been naughty or nice. Dress Code: Black Tie meets Full Kit Wanker.
PUBLIC FORUM DRAMA CLUB SERIES
December 10 at 7:00 PM
$40
The fourth season of Public Forum begins at Joe's Pub with the new Drama Club series, a book club for plays that will feature one-night-only readings and discussions. Authors, musicians, journalists, scholars, and actors will come together to give onstage readings of one-act plays that have some special resonance in our lives today. Each reading will conclude with a discussion of the hard questions that the play addresses about our politics, our culture, and the way we live now. Curated by Jeremy McCarter, the popular Public Forum series presents the theater of ideas: conversations and performances with leading voices in politics, media, and the arts. The Long Christmas Dinner by Thornton Wilderwill be read and discussed by Lisa Kron (actor/playwright), Douglas Rushkoff (media theorist), Anne-Marie Slaughter(president of the New America Foundation), Edward Moravcsik (son of Anne-Marie Slaughter), Tappan Wilder(Thornton Wilder's nephew and literary executor), and others. Wilder's ingenious, heartbreaking play traces 90 years in the life of an American family, and will spark a discussion about family and storytelling in a society that's rapidly accelerating.
December 15 at 7:30 PM
$25
***Watch John Robert's Christmas Tree sketch on YouTube***
John Roberts continuously wows audiences with his live performance skills and original character work in shows across the country and on television. He currently provides the voice of Linda in the Emmy-nominated FOX primetime animated hit Bob's Burgers and has appeared on Good Day NY, MTV's It's On with Alexa Chung, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. In April 2009, John performed Jersey Days, a one-man show co-written with Bob Odenkirk and produced by Jim Biederman, at Ars Nova in New York. In 2010, he was part of a national tour with Margaret Cho. John also hosted a monthly show at Comix in New York, which featured guests like David Cross, Kristen Schaal and Eugene Mirman. Recently, John performed to sold out houses at Caroline's Comedy Club and Joe's Pub. As a musician, John formed the band Opti-Grab, which went on to play with such acts as Blondie, Gogol Bordello, Scissor Sisters, and Tom Tom Club. He has worked with Debbie Harry, Jack Pierson, and The Ones in several musical collaborations. John first gained attention as a standout performer and writer on YouTube. His first viral video "The Christmas Tree" was hailed as an instant comedy classic. It was nominated for a broadband Emmy award and was featured on VH1's Best Week Ever, Comedy Central Insider and countless other blogs and websites. The follow up "Jackie & Debra" won The Comedy Smalls award in London, was featured on YouTube, and formed a huge cult following with audiences both young and old. John currently has over 15 million hits on Youtube and counting.
5TH ANNUAL NEW YORK CITY CHRISTMAS
A CONCERT TO BENEFIT ASTEP
December 16 at 9:30 PM
$65 Reserved / $100 Premium
Back by popular demand, the evening will feature Broadway's most sought-after talent singing fresh, original approaches-pop, soul, R&B, rock and more-of holiday songs off 'New York City Christmas' the album, available for purchase at the concert. Featuring Sierra Boggess (Master Class, The Little Mermaid), Andy Karl (Wicked, 9 to 5), Derek Klena(Carrie, Dogfight), Telly Leung (Godspell, Glee), Lindsay Mendez (Godspell, Everyday Rapture, Grease) and many more! ALL proceeds from tickets to the show and album sales go to supporting ASTEP's mission to connect performing and visual artists with underserved youth in the U.S. and around the world to awaken their imaginations, foster critical thinking, and help them break the cycle of poverty.
Mike Errico: HOLIDAY SHOW
December 19 at 7:00 PM
$20
The Mike Errico Holiday Show is a highlight in a year that has been filled with them. While maintaining a career as a recording artist and producer for TV and film, he has been teaching at Yale University and NYU's Clive Davis School of Recorded Music, where his guests have included Amanda Palmer, Benny Blanco, Jonathan Coulton, Ryan Miller, and others. In keeping with a long-standing Holiday Show tradition, Mike will distribute gifts, known as "Holiday Omens." Recipients will be invited to interpret the Omen's personal significance in the coming year. Hilarious, poignant or cautionary, they have proven to be alarmingly accurate.
Jackie Hoffman: HEEB FOR THE HOLIDAYS
December 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 at 7:30 PM
$30
What happens to a Jewish straight woman on a gay cruise during Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur? How does an unwanted aging actress survive in a New York overtaken by billionaires' toddlers? These questions may or may not be answered at Jackie Hoffman's long awaited return to Joe's Pub in a brand new show Heeb for the Holidays. Let Jackie suck the joy out of your holiday season with an evening of anger and song. Directed by Michael Schiralli and Musical Director Bobby Peaco.
December 20 at 9:30 PM
$15
Take a blustery brass lineup, layer it over a rhythm section led by a Fats Waller-style stride-piano virtuoso, and tie the whole thing together with a magnetic, one-of-the-boys front-woman whose voice recalls another era, and you have The Hot Sardines, an NYC outfit (with a tap dancer) that's been called "consistently electrifying live" (Popmatters). The Sardine sound - wartime Paris via New Orleans, or the other way around - is steeped in the kind of music Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt and Waller used to make: Straight-up, foot-stomping jazz. Pianist-bandleader Evan "Bibs" Palazzo and Paris-born singer Miz Elizabeth (who owe their collaboration to meeting via Craigslist) describe their band as "born in the 1920s, but raised in the '00s," reflecting a philosophy that hot jazz, dixieland and Tin Pan Alley tunes are all pop music, not historical artifact to be handled with kid gloves.
December 21 at 9:30 PM
$20
It's a Winter Solstice tradition for our swinging, singing "psychics to the stars" (Vanity Fair) Stella Starsky and Quinn Cox to apparate at Joe's Pub on this darkest of nights to summon the return of light. Only this time they will be dragging some cosmic dirt from The Shadows, revealing true identities, casting cats out of bags and skeletons from closets. In order for you to be reborn, our haute horoscopic heroes must first fix death square in the eye, conjure, and then kill off, a few demons. With divine assists from mincing snowmen, misfit toys, elvish dentists, queer adenoidal reindeer, musical director Matt Ray and Starsky + Cox's signature starry list of special guests. Starsky + Cox are internationally best-selling authors, TV personalities, metaphysicians, and intraplanetary performers who have staged eponymous shows in New York City at Joe's Pub (Public Theater), Ars Nova and The Zipper Factory, and at Harvard's Oberon (American Repertory Theater) in Cambridge. They are authors of Sextrology and Cosmic Coupling and contributors to Glamour, Paris Vogue, Allure, Elle, Cosmopolitan and myriad other publications. Real-life consultants, Starsky + Cox boast many outspoken fans including Leo women J.K. Rowling, Charlize Theron and Tori Amos who wrote a song inspired by them, "Goodbye Pisces", which they often perform. Starsky + Cox have been featured on television's "Live", MTV's "The Guy Code" VH1's "Big Morning Buzz" and are regular guests on "Chelsea Lately" on E! They are founders, with John Cameron Mitchell, of the Afterglow Festival in Provincetown and have produced and appeared with the most divinely talented artists in this or any other galaxy.
JUSTIN VIVIan Bond AND FRIENDS: LET IT SHOW
December 22 and 23 at 9:30 PM
$25
Celebrate the return of the light with Justin VivIan Bond and friends with an evening of Holiday inspired songs and stories. Expect surprises! (Bring your own lumps of coal and watch them turn into diamonds) Keywords: star-struck, babies, booze, ox and ass. Oh Come All Ye Faithful! Special guests to be announced.
Sandra Bernhard: SANDYLAND
December 26, 27, 28, 29 at 7:30 and 9:30 PM
December 30 at 9:30 PM
December 31 at 9:00 and 11:00 PM
In her own one-of-a-kind live show, Sandyland, that sharply blends theatre, rock-n-roll and stand-up with a little burlesque & cabaret, performer Sandra Bernhard returns in her annual holiday show from Thursday, December 26ththrough New Year's Eve, December 31st. The shows are also in celebration of Joe's Pub 15 Year Anniversary. The actress/singer/comedienne kicked-off her 2013 tour in early January, right after bringing 2012 to a riotous close by performing last year's four night sold-out stint at Manhattan's famed Joe's Pub over New Year's Eve. "Just below the surface, you sense the same roving critical eye that misses nothing" said the New York Times. Sandra's live in-your-face performing combines her hysterical insight, outspoken views and outrageous mouth, along with her band, The Flawless Zircons. Her brilliant unity of hilarious diatribes on the state of modern culture and classic rock attitude burns smart, still having all the raucous energy of youth. In addition to her numerous television and film appearances, audiences have raved about her work on the Broadway stage, including the critically acclaimed I'm Still Here... Dammit!, which opened Off-Broadway in 1997, moved to Broadway a year later, and was filmed for an HBO special. In 2006, Bernhard's Everything Bad and Beautiful also opened to rave reviews.
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Visit us at www.joespub.com for a complete list of shows
ONLINE at joespub.com
PHONE 212-967-7555,
IN PERSON at The Taub Box Office at The Public Theater (1 PM to 6 PM) located at 425 Lafayette Street, NYC
For all press inquiries, please contact Lauretta Charlton at lcharlton@publictheater.org or (212) 539-8563.
ABOUT JOE'S PUB AT THE PUBLIC: Named for Public Theater founder Joe Papp, Joe's Pub debuted 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. In 2013, Joe's Pub celebrates 15 years of the best in live music and performance nightly, continuing its commitment to diversity, production values, community and artistic freedom. It received a top-to-bottom renovation in 2011, 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. http://www.joespub.com/
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. www.publictheater.
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