The Drama Desk Award-winning Celebrity Autobiography returned to the Triad Theater for a new season on Monday, October 3 with the new edition, Celebrity Autobiography: The Next Chapter. The series just completed a 5 week run this Halloween, October 31 featuring guest stars Florence Henderson and Craig Bierko.
Celebrity Autobiography: The Next Chapter featured new selections from books by Justin Bieber, "The Situation," Madonna, Tiger Woods, Susan Lucci, David Hasselhoff, Geraldo Rivera, Melissa Gilbert, Patti LuPone, Kenny Loggins, Destiny's Child, The Jonas Brothers, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Diana Ross, David Cassidy, Britney Spears, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Eminem, and VAnna White.
Celebrity Autobiography: The Next Chapter will also included some new, special ‘celebrity mash-ups'-Cher, Barbra Streisand, Neil Sedaka, Dolly Parton, and Celine Dion all expressing their passion for food; Sylvester Stallone and Tommy Lee on working out and working 'it' out; LL Cool J, Miley Cyrus and Ricky Martin addressing who they "really are;" Tallulah Bankhead, Kathleen Turner, and Ethel Merman sharing the secrets of ‘diva-dom;" and Lauren Bacall and Carol Channing recreating the suspense of Tony night.
The series also featured some Celebrity Autobiography classics, including the infamous memoirs of Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds, which are edited together to create a Rashomon-esque playlet, and the hilarious Burt Reynolds-Loni Anderson he said/she said saga.
Performers who appeared in Celebrity Autobiography: The Next Chapter during the month of October includEd Scott Adsit, Lucie Arnaz, Roger Bart, Craig Bierko, Mario Cantone, Tony Danza, Rachel Dratch, Susie Essman, Will Forte, Florence Henderson, Carol Kane, Lainie Kazan, Marsha Mason, Eugene Pack, Dayle Reyfel, Sherri Shepherd, Jonathan Silverman, Jennifer Tilly, Michael Urie, Rita Wilson, Robert Wuhl, and Alan Zweibel.
Celebrity Autobiography and Celebrity Autobiography: The Next Chapter, created by Eugene Pack and developed by Eugene Pack and Dayle Reyfel, featured a line-up of rotating performers who read-in both solo and ensemble pieces- the actual words and stories written by the famous and the infamous in their autobiographies.
Celebrity Autobiographyhas recently toured nationally and internationally with acclaimed performances in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, San Francisco, Chicago, Arizona, Austin, Miami, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Boston, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The show also recently opened at London's Leicester Square Theatre where it received rave reviews and plays to sell-out audiences.
The original Celebrity Autobiography has played to sell-out audiences and rave reviews in New York since its opening in September 2008 when Charles Isherwood of The New York Times called the show "big-yuks entertainment" and a "merry compendium of the witlessness and wisdom of the rich and famous." Joe Dziemianowicz of the Daily News called it a "potent comic cocktail...you weep with laughter." The New Yorker called it "inspired." Sam Thielman of Variety wrote, "Audience members hyperventilate. It should lead a long and happy life." Michael Riedel of the New York Post called it "the funniest show in town, hands down." And Entertainment Weekly said that Celebrity Autobiography is "one of New York's most buzzed-about shows" while New York Magazine called it "brilliant." The show has been featured by numerous media outlets, including ABC's "The View" and "Nightline," NBC's "Last Call with Carson Daly," CBS's "Sunday Morning," NPR's "Morning Edition," CNN'S "American Morning," New York 1, WNBC'S "News for New York" at 11pm, and Bravo's "A-List Awards."
For more information, visit www.celebrityautobiography.com.
Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski
Florence Henderson and Eugene Pack
Susie Essman, Craig Bierko, and Dayle Rayfel
Eugene Pack, Dayle Rayfel, Alan Zweibel, Susie Essman, Craig Bierko, Mario Cantone, and Florence Henderson
Mario Cantone and Alan Zweibel
Mario Cantone and Alan Zweibel
Eugene Pack, Florence Henderson, Susie Essman, and Mario Cantone
Eugene Pack and Florence Henderson
Susie Essman and Mario Cantone
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