When mental illness comes home, the entire family has special needs. That’s the guiding ethos of writer/performer Anne Pasquale’s 90-minute solo piece entitled Bob, Blessed Be The Dysfunction That Binds, in which she brings to life her Special Needs brother Bob, her family, and the craziness. Laughter, tears and triumphs that highlight her own coming of age journey. Mary Ann Hay is the director, and the show is being presented by The Open Book, New York’s oldest professional readers theatre company. Performances begin January 19 at 78th Street Theatre Lab. For more info on the project, visit http://kck.st/sU1Kmi or www.annapasquale.com.
SEND IN THE YOU-KNOW-WHATS
Think of it as Bozo meets Waiting For Godot: in Circus in a Trunk, a trio of clowns gather at Canal Park Playhouse ready to watch a circus that never arrives. What’s a clown to do? Perform the show themselves, of course! Fortunately for our hapless trio, an antique trunk (is there any other kind?) materializes so they can pull an amazing and hilarious performance full of clever surprises right out of it. The show is created and performed by The Piccolini Trio, comprised of Joy Powers, Joshua Shack and John Stork (who also directs), all of whom are well versed in both contemporary and classic European clowning. Billed as a show for all ages (3 to 103 is how they specify it) and performances take place at Canal Park Playhouse from January 7 to January 29. For more info, visit www.canalparkplayyhouse.com.
FRESH SOPH
A new take on the seven surviving plays of Sophocles will kick off 2012 for The Flea Theater when the company presents the New York Premiere of These Seven Sicknesses, a 5-hour marathon of all the plays (in case you’re momentarily having trouble recalling exam-question factoids from your Theater History and Lit class, they are: Oedipus, In Trachia, Philoketes, In Colonus, Ajax, Elektra and Antigone) and the plays are re-envisioned by playwright Sean Graney, with Ed Sylvanus Iskander directing, and The Flea’s resident company, The Bats, starring (the cast size numbers 38.) And in case you’re wondering about a dinner break during those five hours, you should know that The Flea is partnering with neighborhood favorite Macao Trading Co to provide dinner (an Asian fusion feast) for the show each night, which is included in the ticket price. I’d call this a Herculean effort to present Sophocles, but I don’t want to mix my Greeks—let’s leave that to Sean Graney and The Flea. Performances begin January 19 at the company’s theater on White Street. www.theflea.org
YOU’RE OUT
When hunky actor Nick Cooper lands his breakthrough film role, the offers from Hollywood’s A-list producers come pouring in. The only problem: Nick is gay and his viper of an agent wants to keep him in the closet. Alas, Nick is happy to play along in spite of the vocal opposition of his boyfriend. But all hell breaks loose when a Latina bombshell is brought in to play Nick’s girlfriend. Caliente! That’s the premise of Him, a World Premiere play written and directed by Clifford Streit, which has just begun performances at Cherry Lane Studio Theatre, and is scheduled to run through January 6. Jon Fleming stars, along with Todd Crain, Lindsay Goranson, James Sautter, Patrick Duke Conboy and Roxi Sorina. www.himtheplay.com.
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Suze Orman, where are you?! In Righteous Money, a financial advice show hosted by a foul-mouthed, unapologetic billionaire goes increasingly pear-shaped. What starts as a promo for his new book, “Buy The Recession,” becomes a downward spiral as the host comes out, loses his mind, and tries to justify his wealth to an increasingly angry public. Michael Yates Crowley’s play receives its New York Premiere at 3LD from January 4-7 before moving to The Red Room from January 13-21, in a production directed by Michael Rau for the theater company Wolf 359.
GETTIN’ CRAZY FOR THE NEW YEAR
Actually, it’s not 2012 that that wild and crazy guy and
cabaret provocateur Mark Nadler is
celebrating, it’s that long ago (sort of) year of 1961 in his show Crazy
1961, his mile-a-minute musical survey of that early-60s milestone
year. What happened, musically speaking, in 1961? The Music Man and Gypsy ended
their landmark Broadway runs, while the Beatles and Bob Dylan gave their first
performances. The Supremes made their first recording, Barbra Streisand
made her first television appearance, and Judy Garland made her legendary
comeback at Carnegie Hall. It’s a
musical cornucopia extravaganza as only Mark Nadler can deliver it, and he’s
only doing so for three consecutive Sundays in January: Jan. 15, 22 and 29 at The
Laurie Beechman Theatre. For more info,
visit http://www.westbankcafe.com/beechman theatre.html. It’s crazy!
