Solo Play Following Entertainment Icon Jimmy Durante to Recieve NYC Run This Summer
This May & June in NYC at the hilarious and heartfelt solo play Imagine Dat! audiences will get the chance to experience the ups and downs of an entertainment icon who had millions of adoring fans, Jimmy Durante, the "Great Schnozzola"; son of immigrants from Salerno, Italy; seventh grade dropout whose career spanned 70 years & five major wars. Imagine Dat! The (After) Life of Jimmy Durante will run at The Triad (158 West 72nd St.) with 7pm performances on Sunday May 31, Thursday June 11, and Sundays June 14, 21 and 28. Starring actor of stage & screen Jon Freda as Durante (known for his performance in Luc Besson's film The Family with Robert De Niro and for On A Darkling Plain Off-Broadway), tickets are $60 for VIP, $45 for Orchestra seats and $35 for Mezzanine seats (plus a two-drink minimum / www.BrownPaperTickets.com). Eren T. Gibson is director of the production.
One of the few entertainers to succeed in every venue he played: speakeasies, vaudeville, nightclubs, Broadway, television, movies and radio...Imagine Dat! STOPS THE MUSIC and portrays Jimmy Durante like you've never seen before...a solo play about the man behind the nose, the maestro behind the music, and the jester behind the jokes. Jon Freda embodies Jimmy Durante after a series of "catastastrokes" as he must reconcile his life to the Big Man Upstairs before moving on from the waiting room of his (after) life.
In a career in showbiz and public service which spanned nearly seven decades, Jimmy Durante had many accomplishments, including helping President FDR promote the New Deal by making short films in the 1930s and selling war bonds in the 1940s; he also played piano during silent films at the Lyceum Theatre in 1905 when he was 12, and was considered one of the best rag time piano players in the country in his early 20s.
With this unique and truly entertaining show which has been approved by the Durante estate, Jimmy Durante and his legacy live on with both 20th and 21st Century generations...older audience members become nostalgic when they hear Jimmy belt out "Ink a Dink a Doo" among others, reminiscing as he portrays different characters from the old days of New York City's nightclubs and speakeasies, and strolls & "soft shoes" his way through life. And younger audience members are engaged when they hear "Frosty the Snowman" as they remember the lovable gruff Durante, who also inspired voice of Harry the Muppet Monster from Sesame Street.
Imagine Dat! has had engagements at the Italian Cultural Center in Worcester, MA and very well received performances at The Italian American Museum, Little Italy, NY and The Italian Cultural Center at Casa Belvedere, Staten Island, NY, as well as The National Arts Club and The National Council of Jewish Women's Gerson Cultural Arts Series.
Imagine Dat! The (After) Life of Jimmy Durante has 7pm performances on Sunday May 31, Thursday June 11, and Sundays June 14, 21 and 28 at The Triad (158 West 72nd St.). Tickets are $60 for VIP, $45 for Orchestra seats and $35 for Mezzanine seats, plus a two-drink minimum, and can be purchased on the phone at 800-838-3006 or online at www.BrownPaperTickets.com.
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