Troy Frisby - Page 3

What do you get when you cross Mad Libs with Clue, add a group of theatre vets, and sprinkle in a dash of philanthropy? Why, it must be VILLAIN: DEBLANKS! The comedy event, held at Feinstein's/54 Below, served as a benefit for the ACLU, with Billy Mitchell, who wrote the skeleton script for the show, serving as the night's emcee.

It's often been pointed out that love and hate aren't exactly polar opposites, considering each feeling originates from a place of passion. And now more than ever, we've come to a point where, everyday, living can feel like an extreme sport and everything seems to be superlative, for best or worst. In Migguel Anggelo's latest show, SO CLOSE: LOVE & HATE, at Joe's Pub on May 23, he distilled this moment in time and made something beautiful out of our less-than-certain reality.

Salty Brine's shows may be the closest thing you'll get to an M. Night Shyamalan-level twist in cabaret, though you could never accuse him of prizing shock value over story. Because, above all, Brine's shows in THE LIVING RECORD COLLECTION are conceptually taut, including his latest, WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE. Even when, to the audience, it may seem like he's about to drive over a cliff, he has an escape hatch at the ready.

From just about the moment Alexis Michelle walked into the workroom, the RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE contestant was clocked as a Broadway queen. While performing at Feinstein's/54 Below in IT TAKES A WOMAN with her rich, husky singing voice, that proved to be a well-earned title. But, as seen on TV, comedy seems to come a bit harder for Michelle. Well, don't blame it entirely on the edit, because that duality took center stage at the May 16 show, her solo debut at the venue.

A cyclone of camp with a true gift for one-liners and an even stronger voice, Courtney Act followed the yellow brick road past the crowd to hit the stage in THE GIRL FROM OZ. Despite several homages to THE WIZARD OF OZ, the May 4 show at the Laurie Beechman Theatre was centered on that other, no less magical Oz: Australia. In fact, the RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE alum's entire set list was comprised of songs famously written or sung by Aussies.

Justin Sayre is calling the final editions of THE MEETING* to order. For eight seasons, over seven-and-a-half years, he has led the International Order of Sodomites---the IOS for short---as the Chairman of the "centuries-old organization promoting the lives and legacies of the LGBTQIA community." The final two shows of the acclaimed comedy/variety show, set for Sunday, May 14 at 7:00 and 9:30 pm at Joe's Pub, have long sold out. Yet they'll be broadcast online via Joe's Pub Livestream, with Sayre also taking over the Joe's Pub Instagram account that same day. Before he flew over from Los Angeles for those final shows, we spoke with Justin over the phone about what THE MEETING* has meant to him over the years, why it's time to call it quits, and what's next.

"This is the first time I've ever seen Shaina Taub in anything other than in a play." This comment, made shortly before Taub (primarily known for her work in the theatre, including TWELFTH NIGHT, AS YOU LIKE IT, and OLD HATS) took the stage to perform original songs, distilled exactly what was so thrilling about the singer/songwriter's show at Joe's Pub on April 28, the latest installment in her year-long residency at the venue.

If showstoppers are the sugary-sweet dessert of any Broadway show, you might think eating nothing but cake would leave you sick to your stomach. But in the case of THE GREAT BROADWAY BELT SHOW! at Feinstein's/54 Below, you'd be wrong. At the April 25 show, dessert for dinner never looked so good.

Between the two of them, drag icons Sherry Vine and Joey Arias have more than 50 years of performing experience combined. Not only that, but their working relationship and enduring friendship began more than 20 years ago. Though they've toured with one another around the world over the years, it's been a few years since they've teamed up for a big show in New York, where they first met. Thankfully, the legendary divas will reunite onstage in the city for a new show at Feinstein's/54 Below, as part of Garth Schilling's (also known as Miss Vodka Stinger) drag-themed Thursday night series called LATE NIGHT DRAG. The run will also include Cacophony Daniels, Marti Gould Cummings, Varla Jean Merman, Ray DeForest, RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE star Alexis Michelle, and Miss Vodka Stinger herself with the Martha Rayes. Prior to Vine and Arias' show, the pair pressed pause on their first day of rehearsal to speak with us over the phone about their individual careers, more than two decades of collaboration, and reuniting onstage in the city that brought them together.

With a regal violet gown covered in jewels for days and a mile-high bouffant that would leave Priscilla Presley gagging, Latrice Royale ambled up to the stage of the Laurie Beechman Theatre. When her hair, teased to the gods, soon brushed against the ceiling, she said, with a cackle, "My hair's too high, and I'm not." But, as the title of the show says, LIFE GOES ON, and so did Royale.

Lance Horne is developing new music based on acclaimed author Neil Gaiman's love poems to his wife, Amanda Palmer, is working on a top-secret project with Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears and continues to work with his 'musical husband,' Alan Cumming. And, if all of that weren't enough, the Emmy-winning composer (ONE LIFE TO LIVE), lyricist and performer has also returned to Joe's Pub for the 2016-2017 season. Having performed at the venue since it first opened its doors in 1998, Horne is currently undertaking a four-part residency of new material---aptly titled NEW WORK, NEW WORK---for which he's been joined by many of his famous friends. Ahead of the residency's penultimate installment, NEW WORK NEW WORK 3, on April 12 at 7pm, we spoke with Horne by phone about his innumerable collaborators, his history with Joe's and the stars he's still working on teaming up with.

In her new show, RED, WHITE AND INDIGO, Lady Rizo is all about coming to terms with that "very bad boyfriend" she calls America. "I think he reads my email," she joked with a wry smile, during her first show of a three-night run at Joe's Pub on March 23. "And I know he's f**king with my birth control." And while getting into a relationship thinking you can change somebody is never the best idea, she still had to try. Standing tall in front of a room divider paneled with an upside-down American flag, Lady Rizo was dead-set on reclaiming the idea of patriotism.

'That's really niche.' Those words from one of the night's emcees, Feinstein's/54 Below Programming Director Jennifer Ashley Tepper, were technically used in reference to Linda Lavin's propensity to play love interests for superheroes. But, really, they could've been used to describe BROADWAY BOUND: THE MUSICALS THAT NEVER CAME TO BROADWAY, which played at the aforementioned venue March 21.

Suzanne Vega is not a firecracker; she's a sparkler. In the first night of her run at Cafe Carlyle on March 15---since the previous day's show was nixed due to a rude winter storm named Stella---Vega was dazzling, but in the smallest, most personal way possible. Getting up onstage, she spoke with the calm, reassuring but controlled tone of a therapist or a meditation coach. While that may not sound like a great recipe for a stage persona, Vega's stripped-down performance bordered on hypnotic.

Like the Criminologist in ROCKY HORROR, Erin Markey is here to take you on a strange journey. Well, technically, said journey has been going on since 2013. And, after years of working on her original musical, A RIDE ON THE IRISH CREAM, this was more of a victory lap for Markey, in the form of an album release celebration at Joe's Pub. Don't worry, though. It's still plenty strange.

Stumbling onstage, Salty Brine was divinely off-kilter as the reincarnation of Dean Martin in DEAN. MAYBE FRANK. MAYBE SAMMY. at Pangea. Newly returned from Vegas and looking worse for wear in the role, the performer was sporting bandages and a neck brace from a recent car crash, he later explained. For the latest in Brine's LIVING RECORD COLLECTION, in which he covers a full album in its entirety, he selected Radiohead's OK COMPUTER. Despite channeling Rat Pack vibes in both his patter and his aesthetic, musically, he didn't stray far from Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke's Gen X nasal whine, with an added boost from Brine's trademark theatricality and a few snippets from Ol' Blue Eyes thrown in here and there.

Isaac Mizrahi has a simple question to ask: Does this song make me look fat? Any variation of that prompt is normally a strong cue to walk on eggshells, but making his Cafe Carlyle debut on January 31 with a show named for and based on that query, Mizrahi took a no-holds-barred approach to the human body and just how hilarious and, at times, revolting it can be. After opening the show with a silky-smooth cover of 'Yes' (Kander & Ebb), the fashion designer-cum-cabaret singer dove in headfirst to his fascination of body horror and the body in general. When an audience member protested over the risque-for-the-room subject of 'vodka tamponing,' Mizrahi brushed it off with a sheepish, 'Oh boy, I have some racy stuff coming.'

Outside of an arena, few performers can earn a minutes-long ovation without even opening their mouths. But the inimitable Marilyn Maye is certainly one of those performers.

A woman of many talents, one of Sandra Bernhard's greatest gifts has been her finely-honed ability to satirize Hollywood from the inside. Luckily, her latest residency at Joe's Pub, the year-ending SANDRA MONICA BLVD: COAST TO COAST, gave her plenty of opportunities to keep sharpening that blade.

'Not every drag queen can belt that high.' Throwing out that quip early on in CHRISTMAS MOURNING at the Laurie Beechman Theatre during the December 15 show, Jinkx Monsoon isn't wrong. It's part of what makes the RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE star, otherwise known as Jerick Hoffer, a rare bird: a genuine talent, a winner, and yet someone who seems to be underestimated and underrated at every turn, even nearly four years after their winning run on the show's fifth season.