Broadway Meows Benefit Concert Monday Night.

The FIFTH Annual BROADWAY MEOWS

a Concert for the HUMANE SOCIETY OF NEW YORK

Featuring the songs of SETH BISEN-HERSH

starring:
KARMINE ALERS (Rent)
JUSTIN BARNETTE (Encores! Fiorello!)
SETH BISEN-HERSH
BRIAN CHILDERS (Danny and Sylvia)
DANA COSTELLO (Jekyll & Hyde)
BRANDON J. ELLIS (Once)
KIMBERLY FAYE GREENBERG (One Night with Fanny Brice)
AMY GRIFFIN (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)
TERESA HUI
LARA JANINE (Rock of Ages)
AARON KELLER
KAITLIN KIYAN (Hair)
MIRIAM KUSHEL
MELISSA MITCHELL (Giant)
RORI NOGEE (Showgirls! the Musical)
CASSIE OKENKA (Bonnie and Clyde)
DAVID PERLMAN (Baby It's You)
ADAM SHAPIRO (2013 MAC Award Winner)
STACY SHIRK (Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog)
HALEY SWINDAL (Jekyll & Hyde)
ELISA WINTER (Sweeney Todd)

MONDAY, JULY 22nd AT 7PM

$15 Cover/ 2 Drink Minimum (cash only)
Don't Tell Mama, 343 W. 46th St.
Call for reservations after 4: 212-757-0788 or online at donttellmamanyc.com

Produced by Dennis Fowler
Directed by Melissa Eli
Stage Manager: Heather Ber

The 5th Annual Broadway Meows Concert for the Humane Society of New York will be presented at Don't Tell Mama, one night only, Monday, July 22nd at 7pm. The evening will be comprised of songs by composer/ lyricist Seth Bisen-Hersh. Bisen-Hersh will be joined on stage by a phenomenal cast including Karmine Alers (Rent), Justin Barnette (Encores! Fiorello!), Jaime Cepero (Smash), Brian Childers (Danny and Sylvia), Dana Costello (Jekyll & Hyde), Brandon J. Ellis (Once), Kimberly Faye Greenberg (One Night with Fanny Brice), Amy Griffin (How the Grinch Stole Christmas), Teresa Hui, Lara Janine (Rock of Ages), Aaron Keller, Kaitlin Kiyan (Hair), Miriam Kushel, Melissa Mitchell (Giant), Rori Nogee (Showgirls! the Musical), Cassie Okenka (Bonnie and Clyde), David Perlman (Baby, It's You), Adam Shapiro (2013 MAC Award Winner), Stacy Shirk (Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog), Haley Swindal (Jekyll & Hyde) and Elisa Winter (Sweeney Todd). The concert will be produced by Dennis Fowler, directed by Melissa Meli, stage managed by Heather Ber.

The audience can expect to hear 20 songs from Bisen-Hersh's catalog featuring songs from Love Quirks, More to Love, Stanley's Party, Malka, If Adele Can Do It, So Can I, The Final Frontier and more. Songs will include "Um, Yeah...", "Dear Facebook", "It's Not You, It's Me", "Can You Believe I Was Ever Sad We Broke Up?" and the popular youtube hit, "Hey!".

All the proceeds for the evening will go to the Humane Society of New York, which has "cared for animals in need when illness, injury or homelessness strikes" for over 100 years. The Humane Society saved Bisen-Hersh's cat, Smee's, life in 2009, and this annual benefit is his way of saying thanks.

For more information, please click:

http://www.sethbh.com/broadwaymeows
http://www.humanesocietyny.org/
http://www.sethbh.com/see

Roundup - More Gay Plays at Capital Frings, Jim Brochu's New Show, Taylor Lautner

One Night in New York at the Capital Fringe.

Interview with Alex Timbers of Love's Labours Lost.

Pilobolus review.

Review of Jim Brochu's latest one-man show, coming to NYC this September.

Taylor Lautner hangs out backstage with the Blue Man Group.

Shocks & C*cks All-Nude, All-Dude Revue This Weekend

They're back.  Porkpie International and Horse Trade will be presenting their 5th all-nude, all-dude burlesque revue this Friday night (well, Saturday morning, technically at 1 AM).

Shocks & Cocks 5: Hot Meat will feature the burlesque talents of Jonny Porkpie, Tigger!, Hard Cory, and making their S&C debut Brooklyn Irons, Creamed Stu, Matt Knife, and more.  A sizzling platter of hot male striptease, this after-hours all-you-can-eat summer BBQ sausage fest brings the biggest names in boylesque and the hottest up-and-comers to the stage to bare it all… especially their talent.

"The guys are very excited to finally have a show in the summer months," said producer and host Jonny Porkpie. "There has been some concern in the past that — because of the cold weather — they weren't putting their, well, best foot forward. But in the heat of July, they'll be able to reach their full, um, potential."

SHOW:  SHOCKS & COCKS 5: Hot Meat part of the 2013 Summer Burlesque Blitz

DATE & TIME:  Friday Night / Saturday Morning at 1:00am July 20

VENUE:  The Kraine Theater, 85 East 4th Street

TICKETS:  $20, available at http://www.horsetrade.info

STARRING:  Jonny Porkpie, Tigger!, Hard Cory, and making their S&C debut Brooklyn Irons, Creamed Stu, Matt Knife, and more!

Roundup - Westboro, Your Dream Role, Youth Theatre Workshop

Jimmy Grzelak

Always disappointing when someone trashes a show without bothering to see it, but at least it led me to find out more about a young playwright, Jimmy Grzelak (and now I to want to learn more about his show Betty White: The Musical).

Westboro Baptist Church plans to picket Cory Monteith's funeral.  Anything to get a little press, I guess.

Which role in a Broadway revival would you most like to play?  Some of Broadway's favorite actors give their answers.

35 things most New Yorkers do.

A theatre and circus workshop for LGBT youth in England.

Roundup - Boys Will Be Boys, Cover Boy and Three Lizas

The Language of Love
Photo by Australian Theatre
for Young People

Boys Will Be Boys extends at NYMF.

The Language of Love, a short film about a school boy coming to grips with his love for his best friend, gets over 135,000 views on YouTube.  Film was produced by the Australian Theatre for Young People.

Review of Mirrorball, a play set in the '80s at the onset of the AIDS crisis, at the Latitude Festival in London.

Jacob's Pillow presents Cover Boy, a dance piece based on the closeted gay experience, as part of their LGBT Weekend OUT.

Forever Tango returns to Broadway with dancers from "Dancing With the Stars" Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

Chicago's About Face Theatre bring We Three Lizas to Joe's Pub.

"Miss Magnolia Beaumont Goes to Provincetown" To Have One-Night-Only Performance at Fresh Fruit Festival

Tonight as part of the Fresh Fruit Festival, there will be a one-night-only performance of Joe Hutcheson's award-winning solo show, "Miss Magnolia Beaumont Goes to Provincetown."

In this fresh and hilarious show, a Civil War era debutante, after choking on a pork rib, finds herself sharing the body of a gay Manhattanite on his way to a birthday vacation in Provincetown.

Hutcheson is a marvelous performer (plus, he's not hard to look at), so consider this a must-see show in a festival full of high-quality productions.

"Miss Magnolia Beaumont Goes to Provincetown" will be performed Monday, July 15th at 7 PM at The Wild Project (195 E. 3rd Street).

Roundup - Southern Baptist Sissies, Jonathan Groff and "Pack Up the Moon"

Full houses at Nashville production of Del Shores' Southern Baptist Sissies.

Jonathan Groff talks about The Normal Heart and his new HBO series.

Play about gay fatherhood, Pack Up the Moon, to premiere at Brimmer Street Theatre Company in LA.

Roundup - Bigots and boys

Lloyd Daniels

"And after you’ve been staring at a whole bunch of testicles for two hours they start to look really, really weird."  Review of Up4aMeet in London, and an interview with Lloyd Daniels, the former X-Factor contestant, who stars in it.

LGBT history tour of Los Angeles includes a stop at the award-winning Celebration Theatre.

Buffalo United Artists features 10 LGBT short plays.

Same Sex Different Gays returns to ph Comedy Theatre in Chicago.

Are these the top ten stage musicals?

Bill O'Reilly and Jesse Watters mock participants of Coney Island Mermaid Parade.  No one is particularly surprised.

High school production of The Laramie Project cancelled by principal.

Tickets Still Available for Matthew Morrison at 54 Below

Roundup - Chita, Jackée, and Julie

Rainbow Plays - Photo by Ken Stanek

Rainbow Plays at Fells Point Corner Theatre - a tapestry of short plays with gay and lesbian themes.

La Cage Aux Folles in El Cerrito, CA.

Alan Poindexter, fixture in Charlotte, NC theatre scene, passes away.

Edward Albee wins 2013 Chicago Tribune Literary Prize.

Billy Crystal helps out his hometown.

Off-Broadway for beginners.

Julie Halston to perform at Birdland August 12th and 19th.

Jackée Harry to will join cast of NEWSical The Musical.

I kind of wish I could see this.  Any musical with a song called "Gay Chorus Guys" piques my interest.

NPH joins American Theatre Wing's Advisory Committee.

Chita Rivera to celebrate her 80th birthday with a show.

The real gay Spider-Man.

Brian C. Petti's "The Love Song of Sidney J. Stein" Opens Tomorrow at the Fresh Fruit Festival

The Fresh Fruit Festival presents Brian C. Petti's The Love Song of Sidney J. Stein, a gay relationship play for the new millennium, at the The Wild Project, 195 East 3rd Street on the Lower East Side (bet. Aves. A & B, F train to Second Ave.) A former male prostitute tries to guide a troubled young streetwalker in this comedy/drama about trust, honesty, and second chances.

Show times are: Friday, July 12th at 9pm, Saturday, July 13th at 4:30pm, Sunday, July 14th at 7:30pm.

Tickets may be purchased for $18.00 online at https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/527.

Runtime approx. 80 minutes.

Further information available at http://pettiplays.wikispaces.com/The+Love+Song+of+Sidney+J.+Stein.

Roundup - Relative Merits, So You Think You Can Dance, Three Reasons a Theatre Degree is Important

Relative Merits
Photo by Kurt Sneddon

Review of an Sydney production of Barry Lowe's Relative Merits, a play about the outing of a high-profile footballer.

Hayley Atwell, Harry Hadden-Paton, Al Weaver and Mathew Horne are to star in Alexi Kaye Campbell’s The Pride at Trafalgar Studios in London.


Signature Idol - Let your inner diva out with at the Signature Theatre Open House in Arlington.  You have until July 24th to prepare a YouTube video of your best show tune and send the link to info@signature-theatre.org.

So You Think You Can Dance's Smash moment.

Little known facts about Pippin's Matthew James Thomas.

Three reasons a theatre degree is important.

Photos from the National Medal of Arts ceremony.

Theatre critic Peter Filichia on Leonard Lopate Show tomorrow to talk about his new book, "Strippers, Showgirls and Sharks: Best Musicals."

Great HuffPo article by playwright and actor Joe Hutcheson.

Kings of Dance (h/t Dancers Over 40).

And if you've never heard it before (and how could you have missed it?), "There's No Business Like Show Business" from Ethel Merman's disco album.

And if you like your musicians a little sexier, here's Well Strung's first music video.

Roundup - Encores!, National Medal of Arts, and a Ballet Bad Boy

City Center's Encores! series to tackle Off-Broadway musicals.

Anthony J. Wilkinson's My Big Gay Italian Wedding and its sequel, My Big Gay Italian Funeral both extended through the end of the year.

Dawn Wells, Mary Ann of "Gilligan's Island," joins San Jose Rep's Love, Loss, and What I Wore.

Jason Ralph

Jason Ralph, Boy in Peter and the Starcatcher, on being shy.

William M. Hoffaman's As Is to be revived in London.

Bare returns to London.

New play about Tchaikovsky opening this fall.  Doesn't shy away from addressing his homosexuality.

Ballet student kicked out for doing porn.

29 signs you have a theatre degree.

President Obama to award 2012 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medals.  Award winners include Renee Fleming, Tony Kushner, Elaine May, and Anna Deavere Smith.

Hot String Quartet "Well Strung" Return to Provincetown

Well-Strung: the Singing String Quartet will return to Provincetown’s Art House theater this season. Since the group’s 3-month run at the venue last summer, they’ve been on a roll - with two recent hit New York productions Off-Broadway and their first album released this spring. Well-Strung will debut an all-new show for the summer, running from June 30 – Sept. 1. It is directed again by Donna Drake, and will feature new arrangements of songs by Pink, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift and Third Eye Blind among others as well as new material written by Jeffery Roberson (aka Varla Jean Merman). For tickets, please visit www.ptownarthouse.com or call 800-838-3006.

A hit last summer at this theater for their unique ‘mash-up of string quartet and boy band,’ the group features classical musicians who sing, putting their own spin on the music of Mozart, Vivaldi, Ke$ha, Pink, Adele, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and more. They are Edmund Bagnell (first violin), Christopher Marchant (second violin), Daniel Shevlin (cello) and Trevor Wadleigh (viola). Music arrangements are by David Levinson with additional arrangements by Daniel Shevlin. The show was directed by Donna Drake, conceived by Christopher Marchant & Mark Cortale and written by Ms. Drake & Mr. Cortale, with additional material contributed by Jeffery Roberson. Immediately after their upcoming P-Town run, the foursome will continue their career hot streak with a debut on London’s West End in September at the Leicester Square Theater.

The group first began performing together in a workshop production of the show directed by Ms. Drake at Ars Nova in NYC on Feb. 28th, 2012. Musical arrangements were by Mr. Levinson with additional arrangements by Mr. Shevlin. That same show sold out at Joe’s Pub in May of 2012 before having an extended run last summer at The Art House in Provincetown, MA and playing Off-Broadway at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater last fall. The group returned to Off-Broadway for the first three weeks of March, 2013, and sold-out the Highline Ballroom for one night in early May. The foursome’s debut album was released on Twist Records on February 28, and was produced by Matt Farber (Founder of LOGO Network) and Mark Cortale.

Edmund Bagnell (First Violinist) played Tobias in the 1st National Tour of "Sweeney Todd" directed by John Doyle. He was most recently seen this fall in Gian Carlo Menotti’s “The Medium” playing the role of Toby opposite Varla Jean Merman. Recent regional theater credits include Charlie Brown in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" (Summer Theater of New Canaan), Charlie in "The Big Holiday Broadcast of 1959" written by Joanna Gleason (Fairfield Theater Company), and Oramel Howland in "The Great Unknown" written by Jim Wann ("Pump Boys and Dinettes") and Bill Hauptman ("Big River") as a part of NYMF.

Donna Drake (Director) has appeared in the original Broadway casts of "A Chorus Line," "Sophisticated Ladies," "Woman of the Year," "The Wind in the Willows," "5678-Dance," "It’s so nice to be Civilized" and the original production of "The 1940s Radio Hour." She was an Emmy nominee for "Dear Alex and Annie," and received 4 Drama Desk Nominations, a Mac Award Nomination and a Theatre World Award. She also directed John Tartaglia’s "Imaginocean," which ran Off Broadway at New World Stages.

David Levinson (Arrangements) collaborated with Stacey Weingarten and Donna Drake on "Les Enfants de Paris" (world premiere NYMF 2011). David is also currently working on music and lyrics for "Boys Lost," "The Elliot's," and "Who Is Prester John?" which are in development.

Chris Marchant (Second Violinist) grew up singing and playing violin, but was not involved with theater until the end of his studies at Malone University in Canton, OH. Since then, he has been involved in numerous productions utilizing his multi-talents as a vocalist, actor, and musician. Career highlights include Tobias ("Sweeney Todd," National Tour), violinist ("Spring Awakening" National Tour), Dennis ("Sanders Family Christmas"), and "Naked Boys Singing."

Daniel Shevlin (Cellist/Arrangements) appeared off-Broadway in "The Sandbox" written and directed by Edward Albee, toured the U.S. and Asia in productions of "Rent" and "Cabaret" (Studio 54 version), and has worked regionally as both an actor and cellist in many theaters including the Arvada Center (CO), The Maltz-Jupiter Theatre (FL), Riverside Theatre (FL), Mason Street Warehouse (MI).

Trevor Wadleigh (Violist) is from Seattle and currently a member of The String Collective of New York. He has taught viola at the University of Puget Sound Community Music Community and is also a co-founder of the Puget Sound Animal Rescue.

Mark Cortale is the Producing Artistic Director of The Art House. In his inaugural season in 2011, he founded the Broadway @ The Art House series with Seth Rudetsky, which this summer of 2013 will present Broadway superstars Patti LuPone, Chita Rivera, Sutton Foster, Audra McDonald, Megan Hilty (of TV’s “Smash”), Megan Mullally (of TV’s “Will & Grace”), Christine Ebersole, Joanna Gleason, Sam Harris and Marilyn Maye in addition to other national-level music and comedy programming. He is currently producing Seth Rudetsky’s new reality series and other Broadway-themed entertainment that can be seen at www.SethTV.com. He also co-wrote and produced Well-Strung’s runs this past winter and fall at New York’s Marjorie S. Deane Theater. Mark produced the feature film "Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads," which played the 2012 festival circuit with a screening at Frameline in San Francisco. Mark also premiered the Broadway @ series this season in New Orleans, in Australia with Megan Mullally, on London’s West End this month with Patti LuPone at Leister Square Theater, and will debut as well in Santa Monica, CA in fall of 2013.

Well-Strung is sponsored by the Anchor Inn Beach House, Ptown Bikes, Mussel Beach and SethTV.com

The Art House is wheelchair accessible. 

Varla Jean Merman to premiere new show in Provincetown

Photo courtesy of The Art House

Varla Jean Merman (aka Jeffery Roberson) has been the acknowledged entertainment Queen of P-town for the past decade. Each summer brings the anticipated premiere of her latest, original and irreverent music-comedy show – a summer-long ‘hot ticket’ every year. After a typically busy year starring to critical acclaim as the title roles in the original musical comedy farces Mildred Fierce in Boston and Scrooge in Rouge in New Orleans, as well as in Menotti’s opera The Medium in New York, Varla returns to P-Town to premiere "Twice Upon A Mattress…Will My Prince Ever Come?" at The Art House from July 1 – August 31, with MRF at the piano. For tickets please visit www.ptownarthouse.com

In the new show, the artist explains, “Varla gives the mother of all gooses to everyone's favorite fairy tails. After years of kissing frogs, toads and other slimy creatures, Varla is tired of trying to make her prince come. Should she toss it all aside and embrace her inner Evil Queen? With Grimm stories, a castle's worth of couture and a libido that could wear out seven dwarves, this Ambien-addled Sleeping Beauty is wide awake and ready to give everyone a happy ending!”

2010 Elliot Norton Award Winner, Roberson’s Varla Jean Merman has been featured on television as a guest on TV’s Ugly Betty and on Bravo’s Project Runway Season 5 as the winning model for the show’s drag challenge. Other TV credits include his network television debut on All My Children in the recurring role of lady of the evening Rosemary Chicken, HBO’s Dragtime, E!’s Fashion Emergency, E! Goes to Cannes, MTV’s True Life: Mardi Gras, Francesca Page with Rossy DePalma, and has most recently appeared as Varla Jean on Logo starring in shorts for “Drag History Month.” He shared the Outfest Film Festival “Best Actor” Award and the Aspen HBO Film Festival “Best Actress” Award with his costars Jack Poltnick and Clinton Leupp for his featured performance in the cult classic film Girls Will Be Girls (Sundance 2003) directed by Richard Day. This past January he filmed the sequel entitled Girls Will Be Girls 2012. When Varla (aka Jeffery Roberson) starred opposite Leslie Jordan spring of 2012 at the Little Shubert Theatre, the New York Times wrote “If Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman had stood in front of the right pair of funhouse mirrors, they might have resembled Ms. Merman and Mr. Jordan in stature as well as comedic talent.” He also played the role of Mary Sunshine in the revival of Chicago on Broadway and appeared at the Long Wharf Theatre in Hartford Stage’s production of The Mystery of Irma Vep directed by Michael Wilson performing the roles originally made famous by Charles Ludlam.

Jeffery as Varla Jean has filled concert halls and cabarets across the world including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, the Public Theater, London’s Soho Theatre, LA’s Renberg Theatre, and San Francisco’s Victoria Theatre. He was the opening act of Vienna’s LifeBall, the largest fundraiser for AIDS research in Europe, where he shared the stage with Sharon Stone and Catherine Deneuve. His many Fraktured Classiks productions in New York include The Mailman Always Comes Twice, Screen Door and CAGED! with Lily Tomlin, Joan Rivers and Isabella Rossellini, Lypsinka is Harriet Craig, The Miracle Worker (with Charles Busch) and Varla Jean Merman is The Bad Seedling. Recent engagements also include the title role in Auntie Mame, Scrooge in Rouge, Ricky Graham’s production of Irma Vep at Southern Rep/Le Chat Noir, his recent solo show Varla Jean’s The Loose Chanteuse featuring Tom Judson, which ran in Provincetown, LA, New York and New Orleans, and last summer’s Topping Myself, which sold out its summer run.