Leslie Jordan News

FOX has set the fall premiere dates for its new and returning series.

Leslie Jordan's August 13 & 14 performances at the Crown & Anchor's Paramount Cabaret have been cancelled.  Jordan's commitments to a new FOX television series prevent him from travelling to Provincetown this summer.  Randy Rainbow, whose August 6 & 7 performances are nearing a sell-out, will add additional performances on August 13 & 14 in place of Jordan. 

Despite a bomb threat that caused the audience of the Saturday matinee to be evacuated from the Alex Theatre in Glendale and the performance to be cancelled, GMCLA persevered and went forward with the Saturday evening performance of their spectacular Pink Carpet.

This Spring/Summer 2018, the talent performing at New Hope's RRazz Room at The Clarion is a diverse mix of world class artists. There is something for all entertainment tastes at the intimate and comfortable Rrazz Room New Hope, located within the Clarion Inn & Suites.

Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA), one of the country's longest-running and largest LGBTQ arts organizations, will round out its memorable 39th Season with its highly anticipated summer concert, "The Pink Carpet: The Portrayal of LGBTQ People in Film" at the end of this month. Throughout the show, GMCLA will explore the variety of ways that Tinseltown has portrayed members of the LGBTQ community, and conversely how through its cinematic works over the last few decades, from the silent era through today's blockbusters and independent classics, Hollywood has impacted cultural beliefs and norms by pushing boundaries and blurring gender roles.  

This Spring/Summer 2018, the talent performing at New Hope's RRazz Room at The Clarion is a diverse mix of world class artists. There is something for all entertainment tastes at the intimate and comfortable Rrazz Room New Hope, located within the Clarion Inn & Suites.

This Spring/Summer 2018, the talent performing at New Hope's RRazz Room at The Clarion is a diverse mix of world class artists. There is something for all entertainment tastes at the intimate and comfortable Rrazz Room New Hope, located within the Clarion Inn & Suites. Since opening the Rrazz Room space in New Hope in November of 2013, the venue has presented legendary artists who have brought patrons to their feet nightly. The impressive list of performers who have graced The RRazz Room stage to date include Dick Gregory, The Kinsey Sicks, Andrea Marcovicci, Christine Andreas, Adam Pascal, Mx Justin Vivian Bond, Donna McKechnie, Lee Roy Reams, Andrea McArdle, Deana Martin, Lainie Kazan, Pam Ann, Tom Wopat, Lisa Lampanelli, Leslie Jordan, Well-Strung, Tony DeSare, Linda Lavin, Michele Lee, Rhonda Ross, Sarah Dash, Rex Smith, Deana Martin, Bobby Rydell, Varla Jean Merman, The Skivvies, The Trammps, France Joli, Constantine Maroulis and countless other legendary artists.

From executive producer Charlie Day (“It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) and starring Tony Award nominee David Alan Grier (“The Carmichael Show,” “In Living Color”), Emmy Award nominee Martin Mull (“Veep”, “Roseanne”), Emmy Award winner Leslie Jordan (“Will and Grace,” “American Horror Story”) and Emmy Award winner Vicki Lawrence (“Mama's Family,” “The Carol Burnett Show”), THE COOL KIDS is a multi-camera comedy about a rag-tag group of friends living in a retirement community who are willing to break every rule in order to have fun – because, at their age, what do they really have to lose. HANK (Grier) is the leader of this motley crew, a gruff, opinionated, 21st century Archie Bunker who will go to any lengths to have a good time. His loyal, but less than helpful, friends include CHARLIE (Mull), a bumbling storyteller who constantly goes off on tangents about some bizarre, barely believable episode from his life; and SID (Jordan), a naysaying, pill-popping hypochondriac who shoots down every scheme, but still gets roped in. Complicating matters is MARGARET (Lawrence), a brash, confident woman who forces her way into their group and refuses to leave because she's not going to take crap from anyone – especially not these three. But what unites them all is their shared belief that they're not done yet – not by a long shot. Growing old with dignity is for chumps. Our self-proclaimed “cool kids” are determined to make the third act of the lives the craziest one yet.

Dennis Grimaldi will present Tony®Award-winner Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd) in two staged readings ofHarry Townsend's Last Stand, a new play by George Eastman.  Directed by two-time Emmy®Award-winner Peter Scolari (Wicked) and featuring Warren Bub ('Gotham'), the readings will be held on Monday, May 21 and Tuesday, May 22 at 3pm at Nola Studios (250 West 54th Street - 10th Floor/Studio 1).

Dana Walden and Gary Newman, Chairmen and CEOs, Fox Television Group, today will unveil the FOX primetime slate for the 2018-2019 television season to the national advertising community during its annual Programming Presentation at the Beacon Theatre.

This Spring 2018, the talent performing at New Hope's RRazz Room at The Clarion is a diverse mix of world class artists.

Emmy Award-winning actor and comedian Leslie Jordan returns to Feinstein's at the Nikko with his latest show, EXPOSED, on Friday, July 13 (8 p.m.) and Saturday, July 14 (8 p.m.). In EXPOSED, Leslie invites audiences behind-the-scenes of his childhood and career! Offering a charming and hilarious look back at his life experiences as a flamboyant youth raised as a Southern Baptist, as well as the "unbelievable real-life stories" and treasured anecdotes from his renowned stage and television performances

This Spring 2018, the talent performing at New Hope's RRazz Room at The Clarion is a diverse mix of world class artists.

Sordid Lives, a dark comedy by Del Shores, is playing at Out Front Theatre Company this month. BroadwayWorld caught up with T.K. Habtemariam, an Atlanta-based actor who plays Earl "Brother Boy" Ingram in Out Front's upcoming production, to talk about the show. I haven't seen this show before, but I've done a little bit of reading. So, it's about a woman named Peggy who trips over her lover's wooden legs in a hotel room and dies. Yeah. Exactly. And it's funny that her name is Peggy, too. It is? Yeah. I mean, because the fact that she dies because of the wooden legs. Peg-gy. That's really funny. I'm interested to know how your character figures into this story. Brother Boy…Earl Ingram… probably was a little bit before his time, and at the age of 18, he was kicked out of his household for being one big old queer boy. And he was actually put into a mental institution for wanting to either impersonate women or for liking someone of the same sex. And, essentially, back when I was 18, I had a friend named Wardell, and he found out that I had a crush on hi, and he beat me up to a bloody pulp, and my mother, Peggy, who ends up tripping over her lover's wooden legs, put me in a mental institution because she believes the world is not ready for me and my place in this world. But Wardell, 20 years later, ends up busting me out of the mental institution. This is kind of interesting because when I read about the show online, it sounded like a straight silly comedy, but now it sort of sounds like it tackles some real issues. Oh, it's definitely a black comedy, and it definitely tackles a lot of issues. It's traditionally an all-white cast, and we color-flipped the main family, and we've kind of found ourselves in a new definition of the kind of topics that it tackles It was written in the 90s, and it kind of reflects the Southern mentality form the 90s, but now that we're putting it in the context of a black family, there are so many other social issues that are underlying that wouldn't have been beforehand. That was one of the questions that I was going to ask was how the story has changed because of this casting. This is the first all-African-American cast ever, right? Yes. It is. And it's such an honor for me to say I'm the first African-American Brother Boy because Leslie Jordan originated the role, and I remember seeing this movie in high-school and revisiting, I was like "Oh, my goodness. I actually did see this movie." And it is definitely a fantasy in the sense of what anyone of color could get away with. If there was anyone who was queer and of color in a mental institution for being gay, I don't know if that person would still be alive. And Wardell, who busts into the mental institution, comes in with a gun and busts me out, and we both tell this white lady to get the hell out of this place. If that were to happen in the 90s in South Texas, I promise you they wouldn't be alive. And, you know, it does bring in the idea of the interracial relationship, but that's kind of at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to all of the other issues that we cover. Even though I would like to say that Brother Boy has access to mental healthcare and someone who's queer and of color…that's kind of like the last group of people who get healthcare. And also there are moments where black women talk back to white men. There are moments when a black woman tells off a white man. There are moments, when it comes to social diversity back then… You know, we think of period pieces like To Kill a Mockingbird where we are so used to saying, "Okay. Well, at this time, black people were called niggers, so we're just going to have to expect it, you know?" But when it comes to things like I'm a black male in a mental institution for fantasizing about country queens like Tammy Wynette, and I do believe that my character would probably identify as a trans person but back then "trans" wasn't in our vocabulary, so there's the interesting discussion there to happen. So, it just kind of flares up a lot of things that couldn't have happened back then, but today we're using theatre as a way to tell a story that probably wouldn't have ever happened to bring up discussions today. We've had lots of conversations as a team about what these things mean to us today, and a lot of things have to be dug up. For instance, there's a line where a character calls somebody a mulatto. When we think of a white-trash family, we kind of accept the fact that they're going to poke fum at somebody being mixed, but how does it look when a white person says that to a black person? There have been some modifications, of course, with the generosity of Del Shores, where we've kind of said, "Can you rework this or find a way to make this…" And he was into that? He was willing to make those changes? Oh, yeah! He had to think about the script and rework it and rewrite some lines. There are some lines where - I am a black person, and we have to take into consideration that I wouldn't just idolize Tammy Wynette, you know? There are so many other queens at that time. We found moments where I can bring up Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner because that would be reflective of the culture and of the time. When you first auditioned for the role, what was it about the role that really resonated with you? I think that number one is my character type. You always have to think about what kind of roles you are peaked for, in all honesty. I'm usually someone who's taking someone down or who is being taken down. My character-type is the "betrayer" or the "betrayed." And Brother Boy is that kind of character. And then, I do drag as a little side passion project here in Atlanta, and I work with a predominantly queer POC group called Southern Fried Queer Pride, and I've had opportunities to perform in drag, write drag shows, and the play is kind of an amalgamation of both theatre and drag. And it's a cult classic role! Why wouldn't I want to be a part of it? And once I started meeting my castmates and we had rehearsals and what not, the bigger picture started panning out and I stated to see, "Oh, okay. This is what this is really all about." Do you have any projects coming up this summer that we need to know about? There's a passion project that I'm working on. It's kind of like the second installation of it. It's called Weavestock, and it's going to be through Country Fried Queer Pride. It's going to be hopefully happening sometime in August, and it's a project that I'm writing, directing, and being a part of. It's kind of like a play on Woodstock and Wigstock, a phenomenon that happened in New York in the late 80s and early 90s. Lots of drag icons used to perform at Wigstock. Weavestock is basically a celebration of all-black drag. It moves like a jukebox musical where there are written scenes with drag performances. A lot of times, you know, you have to create your own opportunities. Right now, I'm working on cultivating my writing skills and my directing skills and just hoping to create more opportunities for myself herein Atlanta. Sounds like you're on the right track! Looking forward to seeing the show.

This Spring 2018, the talent performing at New Hope's RRazz Room at The Clarion is a diverse mix of world class artists. From Las Vegas Entertainer Of The Year and Grammy Nominee Clint Holmes, the always hilarious Judy Gold, TV's Carson Kressley along with Dance Music Artist Kristine W in their new show 'Stand Up With A Twist', the legendary Maureen McGovern celebrating the 45th Anniversary of The Poseidon Adventure, and cabaret/ theatre pioneer & MAC Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Sharon McNight, there is something for all entertainment tastes at the intimate and comfortable Rrazz Room New Hope, located within the Clarion Inn & Suites.

Producer Rick Murray will present the 2018 Cabaret Series in Provincetown, MA this summer at The Crown & Anchor's Paramount Theatre, Cabaret Room, and Town Hall Auditorium.  Tickets are now on sale for the Series, in which an impressive list of award-winning stars will be performing live in full concerts.  Following up on last summer's smash hit season, the 2018 Cabaret Series will include the talents of comedian Paula Poundstone as well as Broadway stars Lucie Arnaz (They're Playing Our Song, Pippin), Telly Leung (Aladdin, Allegiance), Anthony Rapp (Rent, If/Then), Linda Eder (Jekyll and Hyde), and Emmy Award winners Leslie Jordan (Will and Grace) and Bruce Vilanch.

Out Front Theatre Company is closing out a spectacular second season with Del Shores' Sordid Lives. Hitting the stage May 3-20, the theater's rendition of the classic comedy will reflect the current times and bring a new spin to the show with an all African American cast portraying the Sordid Lives family members for the first time in the show's history!

This Spring 2018, the talent performing at New Hope's RRazz Room at The Clarion is a diverse mix of world class artists. From Las Vegas Entertainer Of The Year and Grammy Nominee Clint Holmes, the always hilarious Judy Gold, TV's Carson Kressley along with Dance Music Artist Kristine W in their new show 'Stand Up With A Twist', the legendary Maureen McGovern celebrating the 45th Anniversary of The Poseidon Adventure, and cabaret/ theatre pioneer & MAC Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Sharon McNight, there is something for all entertainment tastes at the intimate and comfortable Rrazz Room New Hope, located within the Clarion Inn & Suites. There is nothing quite like the connection between the performers and their audience in an up close and personal cabaret setting.

This Spring 2018, the talent performing at New Hope's RRazz Room at The Clarion is a diverse mix of world class artists. From Las Vegas Entertainer Of The Year and Grammy Nominee Clint Holmes, the always hilarious Judy Gold, TV's Carson Kressley along with Dance Music Artist Kristine W in their new show 'Stand Up With A Twist', the legendary Maureen McGovern celebrating the 45th Anniversary of The Poseidon Adventure, and cabaret/ theatre pioneer & MAC Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Sharon McNight, there is something for all entertainment tastes at the intimate and comfortable Rrazz Room New Hope, located within the Clarion Inn & Suites. There is nothing quite like the connection between the performers and their audience in an up close and personal cabaret setting.