Lypsynka and Jackie Hoffman in “Once Upon a Mattress”

Pet Day in Coney Island!

Sweet Soubrette and the Ukuladies at Jalopy Tonight

Parallel Exit’s Comedy Academy AND MORE

The goodly clowns of Parallel Exit want you to know that they offering the following classes this summer. If the students turn out anything like the teachers, it’ll be money well spent, sez I to mself. (Not sure, but for some reason I just turned into Malachy McCourt).

At any rate, I just got this release from Lonergan, and — woo, boy — did he bury the lede in this thing! I scan the release and halfway down it says he and Joel Jeske are putting together the 2015-16 edition of Big Apple Circus!!! The class is exciting news, sure, but the circus bombshell is way bigger. I’m mega excited about this prospect so look for much more coverage as the time draws nigh and beyond. Meantime, take the class, take the class….

PARALLEL EXIT’S
COMEDY ACADEMY SUMMER INTENSIVE

A WEEK OF INSTRUCTION FOR A LIFETIME OF LAUGHTER

Join the Ivy League of physical comedy – an intimate class where you will get personal, individual instruction from an award-winning team of experts.

With your trusty professors: Joel Jeske and Mark Lonergan
Artistic Directors of the award-winning physical comedy troupe Parallel Exit
Creators/Directors of the 2015-16 Big Apple Circus

First comedy class? No worries – we will guide you through a series of fun and practical exercises to get you on board.

Actor/Improviser looking to up your game? We will work your comedy chops and build your confidence for auditions, performances, and productions.

Variety Artist with an act to hone? We will inspire and guide you to maximum laughs and highest impact.

August 19-23, 2013
10am-5pm
Drama League Studio Lab
32 Avenue of the Americas (just south of Canal Street)

Tuition $750
Early Bird*/Alumni Price $650
Parallel Exit Member Price $500
*reserve your spot by July 15th to take advantage of the Early Bird price

SIGN UP AT WWW.PARALLELEXIT.COM<http://WWW.PARALLELEXIT.COM>

“The Penalty” Opens Tomorrow

Here’s an extremely interesting project opening tomorrow night, written by Clay McCleod Chapman; based on the Lon Chaney film and the novel on which that was based, and starring a cast that includes people with disabilities. Details are below.

Special Preview Night! Thursday, June 13th at 7:30pm
$10 (general admission)

FRIDAYS & SATURDAYS,
JUNE 14 & 15, 21 & 22, 28 & 29 at 7:30pm

Written by CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN

Directed by KRIS THOR
Music and Lyrics by ROBERT M. JOHANSON & CLAY MCLEOD CHAPMAN
Starring: Gregg Mozgala, Sarah Buffamanti & Phillip Taratula 
Commissioned by DIXON PLACE & THE APOTHETAE

TICKETS: 
$15 (advance), $18 (door), $12 (stu / sen) or TDF

What would you sacrifice to be made whole?

New York City. 1920. A legless beggar pleads with the oncoming foot-traffic for spare change. Barely a nickel comes his way. But what these pedestrians don’t know is—this deformed derelict at their heels is none other than Blizzard, kingpin to the seedy underbelly of the Lower East Side. With an army of dancing girls at his beck and call, Blizzard is hell-bent on executing his master plan: Get his revenge against the prominent doctor who left him in this condition—and against the city that could’ve cared less. 3 People. 4 Legs. 1 Game of Revenge.

The Penalty features an ensemble cast, integrated with able-bodied and actors with disabilities with songs by composer Robert M. Johanson (Nature Theatre Of Oklahoma’s Life and Times Episodes 1-4). The Penalty is inspired by the novel of the same name by Gouverneur Morris, and its film adaptation, starring Lon Chaney, written by Charles Kenyon and directed by Wallace Worsley.

More info here: http://www.theapothetae.org/

Accidentally Preserved

Ben Model has accomplished rather a neat magic trick by managing to become a Renaissance man without ever leaving the very narrow field of silent film: primarily known as a silent film accompanist, presenter, and lecturer, he is also a scholar and archivist (not just of silent film, but of the Ernie Kovacs collection), a performance theorist and director, and increasingly a performer himself.

Today he has released a new DVD set containing several extremely rare (some unique, i.e. literally one-of-a-kind) films from his collection, all of them 16mm prints that were distributed for home usage and rental in the 1930s and 1940s (a kind of precursor to home video that never really took off). I would say these films are mostly for the hard core fan since they feature artists who are now more obscure than obscure BUT for the fact that most of them are really funny and charming, and anyone who took the trouble to watch them really ought to enjoy them if they have any grey matter left in their burnt-out 21st century electro-brains.

The collection contains such gems as:

The Lost Laugh (1928) featuring Wallace Lupino as a young husband who laughs off most of his morning’s little misfortunes….until a washing machine salesman lays one straw too many onto the camel’s back…

Loose Change (1928) features Neal Burns and Jack Duffy as his long lost Scottish relative who comes to visit and gets the “vamp” treatment” from his wife’s friend. The guy is so cheap he fakes injuries so he can get a free ride from ambulances; by the end the woman’s got him taking one back out of town.

Wedding Slips (1928) Monty Collins and his bride are interrupted in their honeymoon by a bunch of highway gypsies — and a gorilla!

Shoot Straight (1923) This one features Charley Chase’s brother Paul Parrot in a number of hunting gags

The House of Wonders (1931) the only potential dud in the bunch, this one is an industrial for the Elgin Watch Company. While I was impressed that Ben could muster enough romance in his soul to play music along with it, I confess that I fast forwarded most of the footage of factory assembly lines. There is historical interest here, though. There’s that.

The Misfit (1924) This is the only one in the bunch I had seen before, it features Clyde Cook as a henpecked husband who joins the Marines to escape his shrewish wife, and ends up driving his drill sergeant  crazy. In the end he manages to get both the sergeant and his wife to fall into the ocean, solving all of his problems.

The Water Plug (1920) Billy Franey plays a hobo with a scam for raising money that involves a fake badge and a prop fire hydrant. Directed by George Jeske. 

Mechanical Doll (1922) A charming little mix of live action and animation, produced and directed by the Fleischer Brothers. 

Cheer Up (1924) a fairly standard silent comedy scenario. A girl must choose between two rivals; when she marries one (Cliff Bowes) the rival stalks and tortures them with hilarious results !

You know you want it! To get your copy go here. 

“Behind the Burly Q” Book Signing Tonight!

A few months ago we posted this rave review of Leslie Zemeckis’s documentary Behind the Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America. Now Skyhorse Publishing has released a companion book put together by Zemeckis containing unprecedented peeks into the diaries, letters, albums, and memorabilia,  stories and personal photos of the great burlesque artistes. She’ll be screening the film and selling and signing copies of the book tonight at 7:30pm the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington, Long Island, accompanied by our own Angie Pontani! This is an event you don’t want to miss!

Here’s all the information you need: http://www.cinemaartscentre.org/event/behind-the-burly-q/

Theatre Women’s March for Equality Today at 6

These ladies are meeting up for a Suffragette style march in the theatre district tonight. Meet up is at 5:30 pm in the 50th-51st Street passageway adjacent to the Gershwin Theatre (222 West 51st) between Broadway and 8th Avenue. March at 6pm!

The Frolic Tonight

Ghost Lines Live

Here’s a project that deserves your support. Dancer/ choreographer Cori Olinghouse is currently working on a live series of interlocking ghost and shadow characters that conjure elements of Vaudeville, Dada, and Surrealism. The piece is scheduled to go up in New York at Danspace Project in December. Get all the deets as well as a sneak peek video preview of this interesting work right here.