Unique Portrayals & Important Perspectives: The Village Bike, Too Much Sun, Blink, Hedwig & The Angry Inch
Lindsay, Nicole, and Liz discuss seven new productions on New York stages, ranging from family dramas to fairy tales in verse, plus a conversation about past and present cross-dressing on stage, by men AND WOMEN.
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SHOWS DISCUSSED
The Village Bike
By Penelope Skinner
Directed by Sam Gold
Becky’s husband is obsessed with her pregnancy. He is preoccupied with the soon to arrive baby, so much so that he pays no attention to Becky. Unhappy, Becky buys a bike and goes on a journey to reclaim her personhood. The Village Bike is Greta Gerwig’s stage debut and the cast includes the formidable Scott Shepherd (the narrator in Elevator Repair Service’s GATZ).
TICKETS
At Lucille Lortel Theater
Too Much Sun
By Nicky Silver
Directed by Mark Brokaw
Audrey Langham (Linda Lavin) is a popular stage actress. She comes apart during a production of Medea and escapes to her estranged daughter’s summer house on Cape Cod where hijinks ensue, sigh.
Blink
By Phil Porter
Directed by Joe Murphy
Blink is not your typical boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl live happily ever after love story, although it is a story about a boy who, eventually, meets a girl and they do fall in love. Thomas Pickles and Lizzy Watts star in this deceptively simple love story by Phil Porter. The story unfolds via alternating monologues addressed directly to the audience. It employs a unique meet cute device that strains the bounds of credulity but ultimately facilitates an intriguing and tension-filled build up to their relationship.
The Tragedy of Dandelion
By Duncan Pflaster
Directed by Joan Kane
An fairy tale told in verse with an all-female cast, in The Tragedy of Dandelion Princess Dandelion escapes her rapist and would-be husband by disguising herself as a man. On her journey, she meets nuns, soldiers, and eventually another princess with whom she falls in love.
At Urban Stages by Ego Actus
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
By John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask
Directed by Michael Mayer
Newly minted Tony Award winners (so minted after the recording of this podcast) Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Hall are fabulous in this big budget version of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Satchmo at the Waldorf
By Terry Teachout
Directed by Gordon Edelstein
Starring John Douglas Thompson, Satchmo at the Waldorf is a one man show about the legendary trumpet player Louis Armstrong.
TICKETS
At Westside Theatre Upstairs
UPCOMING SHOWS
When We Were Young & Unafraid from Manhattan Theatre Club
Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare in the Park
American Hero at Second Stage Theater Uptown
Comic Book Theater Festival Issue #2 at the Brick Theater
The Hallway Trilogy, a reading, discussion, and book signing with author Adam Rapp at The Drama Book Shop