The Duplex News

Julie Benko, who played Cosette in the recent national tour of Les Miserables, teamed up with NYC-based jazz pianist Jason Yeager to record a new song wishing everyone a happy Thanksgivukkah this season. Watch below!

Today we are talking to a terrifically talented and versatile stage and screen performer who has excelled in many arenas throughout her compellingly varied career - comedy, drama, stand-up, cabaret, jazz and beyond - the fiercely, fabulously idiosyncratic and ebulliently engaging Lea DeLaria. Espousing upon a wide range of topics and tracing her unique professional trajectory thus far, DeLaria sheds some light on a few of her most fondly remembered stage roles - revivals of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW and ON THE TOWN on Broadway, as well as Off-Broadway turns in LITTLE FISH and PROMETHEUS BOUND included - as well as recounts her experiences participating in a handful of feature films, new and old, as well - including the recent Hallmark original movie musical DEAR DUMB DIARY. Most importantly, DeLaria recounts her experiences starring on the Netflix mega-hit series ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK and offers a glimpse of the major impact that the pop culture lynchpin has had on her own life since its 2013 debut - while also preliminarily previewing what we can expect from Season Two, too. Plus, DeLaria reflects on her recording legacy, detailing the conception and production of some choice cuts from her many arresting albums - such as 'Broadway Baby', 'The Ballad Of Sweeney Todd', 'Puff' and 'Sleigh Ride' - as well as shares first news on her new album project, highlighting the music and lyrics of David Bowie. Additionally, DeLaria teases her upcoming scandalously titled series of holiday-themed shows at NYC cabaret hotspot 54 Below occurring in late December while also offering her candid perspective on favorite Christmas tunes and the season itself. All of that, FURTHER TALES OF THE CITY memories and much more in this engaging conversation with a true Broadway and Hollywood original.

KEVIN CARTER, Bobby Cronin, Scott Evan Davis, Drew Gasparini, Julia Meinwald, Blake Pfeil, Jeff Thomson, and Amanda Green star in INSPIRED 2: A Benefit Concert for the Humane Society of NYC and The Last Resort Rescue of NJ, today, Monday November 18th, 7pm at Stage 72/Triad.

Additional dates added for Jennylind Parris' New York City solo debut; A Woman of Character: A Tribute To The Incomparable Carol Burnett. These dates are Friday December 6th at 7:00p and Saturday December 21st at 4:00p at The Metropolitan Room . She is directed by multi-award winning director Gretchen Reinhagen and musically directed by multi-award winning musical director Tracy Stark. Proceeds from the December 21st show will go to benefit the Nomi Network, an organization creating jobs for women rescued out of sex trafficking. www.NomiNetwork.org

In a clip from tonight's CONAN on TBS, guest Melissa McCarthy tells Conan about how piggish men made stand-up tough but she could always count on her friendly neighborhood gays at The Duplex. Watch below!

The musical comedy about nightclub singers and night-time musical fantasies - Humpty Dumpty Cracks Up: The Nightmare of Cabaret --- will be performed in Manhattan on November 23, 24, and 25. The cast includes cabaret singers themselves in prominent and cameo roles, along with singer-actors who are kids, teens and adults (senior citizens among them). In the year marking her triumphant nightclub return, not resting her laurels or her tuffet, singer KAREN WYMAN is featured as Little Miss Muffet, writer of self-help books for arachnophobes and bullied teens. Cabaret-goers will find other favorites in the cast such as TERESA FISCHER as the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe. Rotating guests in cameo and featured roles include such folks as RICKY RITZEL at the first performance, The Duplex's THOMAS HONECK at the middle performance, and CHRISTINE LAVIN on the Monday night. As the legendary Little Bo Peep, TANYA MOBERLY sheepishly appears at the first and third performances. The plot concerns a first-time cabaret performer (WENDY RUSSELL), her singer pal (BRENDA BERGMAN) and strange dreams about nursery rhyme characters putting on cabaret acts.

Come and be dazzled (and 'bedazzled') by Jamie Salzano's sparkling musical journey of a girl on the rocks reaching for the stars. The New York City-based cabaret singer will present 'Stardust and other sparkly things...' tonight, November 9 (4 p.m.);Tuesday, November 26 (7 p.m.); and Saturday, December 7 (4 p.m.) at The Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), New York City.

KEVIN CARTER, Bobby Cronin, SCOTT EVAN DAVIS, DREW GASPARINI, JULIA MEINWALD, BLAKE PFEIL, JEFF THOMSON, and AMANDA GREEN star in INSPIRED 2: A Benefit Concert for the Humane Society of NYC and The Last Resort Rescue of NJ, on Monday November 18th, 7pm at Stage 72/Triad.

Jude Treder-Wolff, a creative arts psychotherapist and writer/performer brings her solo storytelling show Crazytown: my first psychopath to The Pit-The Peoples Improv, 123 W. 24th St, New York, NY tonight, November 3 at 8 pm. Tickets are $5.

Night Lights Theater Group presents SAY YOU LOVE SATAN, a play by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, directed by Eric Robertson. It will run for a limited engagement at The Duplex, tonight, November 2, 3, 9 and 10 at 6:30pm.

Kick off your Halloween celebrations with a killer night out at 54 Below, during their new late night series Late Nights with Mamma Rice! The festivities are set for tonight, Oct 30th at 11:30 p.m.

Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre kicks off its 44th season with the first play of 'The Ed Bullins Project' - two revivals from his 'Twentieth Century Cycle of Plays' - IN THE WINE TIME, to be followed by The Fabulous Miss Marie this spring. In The Wine Time, directed by Mansoor Najee-Ullah, will begin performances tonight, October 25th at Castillo Theater (543 West 42nd Street), continuing through November 24th. Opening Night is set for Thursday November 7th.

Jennylind Parris will make her New York City solo debut in A Woman of Character: A Tribute To The Incomparable Carol Burnett on Saturday November 2nd at 4:00p at the Metropolitan Room. She is directed by multi-award winning director Gretchen Reinhagen and musically directed by multi-award winning musical director Tracy Stark.

The Show Goes On Productions (TSGO) has announced that THE ROCKING DEAD will give away a $500 cash prize to the winner of a Zombie Costume Contest this Saturday, October 26th at The Cutting Room (44 E. 32nd Street at Park Avenue). Doors open at 11:30pm. Broadway Sessions' BEN CAMERON will guest MC the after hours Halloween show, the latest in the ROCK TONIC Series, written and performed by The Deafening.

Rev. Yolanda, http://www.yolanda.net singer songwriter, radical faerie gender bender and Interfaith Minister will be the subject of a full length documentary by spiritual filmmaker Ike Allen of Avaiya Media in Boulder Colorado http://www.avaiya.com/

Woodie King Jr's New Federal Theatre kicks off its 44th season with the first play of 'The Ed Bullins Project' - two revivals from his 'Twentieth Century Cycle of Plays' - IN THE WINE TIME, to be followed by The Fabulous Miss Marie this spring. In The Wine Time, directed by Mansoor Najee-ullah, will begin performances October 25th at Castillo Theater (543 West 42nd Street), continuing through November 24th. Opening Night is set for Thursday November 7th.

A new clip of stage and screen star Robin De Jesus in his new role as replacement monologist, stepping in for the seemingly irreplaceable author and original star himself, Ben Rimalower, in Off-Broadway's PATTI ISSUES, has now been released.

"We are thrilled to partner with Honor Business Company on this conversion in Prachuap Kirikhan, a popular seaside retreat on the Gulf of Siam," said Lothar Pehl, Senior Vice President, Operations and Global Initiatives and Regional Vice President, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam; and Japan, Korea and Guam, Starwood Hotels & Resorts. "Through its conversion-friendly strategy, Starwood offers owners the opportunity to reposition existing properties and affiliate themselves with strong global brands that resonate with travelers in markets worldwide."

Come and be dazzled (and 'bedazzled') by Jamie Salzano's sparkling musical journey of a girl on the rocks reaching for the stars. The New York City-based cabaret singer will present 'Stardust and other sparkly things...' on Saturday, November 9 (4 p.m.);Tuesday, November 26 (7 p.m.); and Saturday, December 7 (4 p.m.) at The Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), New York City.

LezCab (www.lezcab.com) is a cabaret series featuring performances of musical theatre songs performed by, and written by and/or about queer women. This month's event, Happily Ever After, it will be held Sunday, October 27th at 7pm at The Duplex located at 61 Christopher Street in the West Village. Join the fun and celebrate a night of songs from recognizable, fairytale- oriented, princess-loving, happily-ever-after, divorce-free cartoons from our childhood!