The veteran Broadway chorus boy Bradley Jones, who segued into a career as a psychoanalytic clinician and author, is currently in the midst of a crowd-pleasing comeback to the stage. His cabaret debut, which took off in a sold-out, one-night stand at The Metropolitan Room last year, continues for three nights this spring. "Dr. Bradley's Fabulous Functional Narcissim: The Solo Show," Jones's raucously funny and insightful coming of age story that rockets through the '60s of his childhood, through the '70s and '80s of his Broadway years, all the way to the present, gets started for two nights at The Laurie Beechman at the West Bank Café, 407 West 42nd Street, on Friday May 11, at 7pm and Saturday May 19, at 1pm. The fun continues for a third date at Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, on Friday June 15 at 8pm. Jones is supported by a quartet, The Freudians, led by Mike Pettry, the show's music director, on piano, with Alden Banta on woodwinds, Jacob Silver on bass, and Zack Eldridge on percussion.
An arresting cross-breeding of his two passions -- psychoanalysis and musical theater -- "Dr. Bradley's Fabulous Functional Narcissim: The Solo Show" is a madcap, thought-provoking, and poignant chronicle of a developmental odyssey that is as outlandish as it is totally relatable. Mixing song, dance, tap, storytelling and quips out of school, Dr. Bradley feels no pain as he recounts how a precocious 6-year old theater queen, became a glorified Broadway chorus boy (parking himself for a decade in a legendary Broadway hit), made it through the AIDS crisis and excessive drug use, to his current role today as a successful (and published, he might add) psychoanalytic clinician. In something never-before-attempted, Dr. Bradley also performs 15 years of intensive psychoanalysis in under 5 minutes with tap shoes!
"Dr. Bradley's Fabulous Functional Narcissim: The Solo Show," starring
Bradley Jones, features a panorama of mostly Broadway-derived standards that pulsed through these formative years. The set includes gems by Rodgers and Hart ("Pal Joey"), Sondheim ("Passion"), Bernstein ("Candide");
Ray Heindorf ("A Star Is Born");
Brian Yorkey ("Next to Normal") and such pleasures as "Feelin' Too Good Today Blues" made famous by
Peggy Lee.
In "Dr. Bradley's Fabulous Functional Narcissim: The Solo Show," Dr.
Bradley Jones hoofs and sings his way through a lifetime of illusion, insecurity, growth and redemption. Three shows only at two of New York's beloved cabarets: First it's The
Laurie Beechman Theatre at the West Bank Café,
407 West 42nd Street, on Friday May 11, at 7pm and Saturday May 19, at 1pm. For tickets visit
www.westbankcafe.com or call
212-352-3101. And on Friday June 15 at 8pm, Dr. Bradley throws himself into the arms of
Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street. For info visit
www.donttellmamanyc.com or call
212-757-0788 for reservations. The cover charge for all three shows is $20. There is a 2-drink minimum at both clubs... Mama's is cash only
