JOE'S PUB LIVE! Kicks Off Pride 2020 With Isaac Oliver, Max Vernon and Kim David Smith This Week
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jun. 03, 2020
Joe's Pub, a program of The Public Theater, continues JOE'S PUB LIVE!, its free series of live-streamed and archived performances from their iconic stage in New York City. Designed to facilitate social connection during this time of physical distancing, Joe's Pub will share events with audiences worldwide each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8PM Eastern.
This week's schedule of performances kicks off Joe's Pub Pride Month celebrations with an evening of his signature sit-down comedy with Isaac Oliver on Thursday, June 4 at 8PM; a celebration of tattooed ladies, Korean popstars, '70s queer culture, the apocalypse, and more with Max Vernon's Existential Life Crisis Lullaby on Friday, June 5 at 8PM; a salute to a perennial pop goddess by way of Kim David Smith Sings Kylie Minogue on Saturday, June 6 at 8PM.
Beyond this week, other confirmed shows include an evening of modern Arabic fusion music from Mira Awad with Guy Mintus on Thursday, June 11 at 8PM; a balls-to-the-wall drag fest in the form of The Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret on Friday, June 12 at 8PM; a night of fresh tales, classic jamz, and the same ol' bad attitudes from 2Scoops on Saturday, June 13 at 8PM; an evening of belly laughs and more with comedian, actress, and jazz musician Lea DeLaria's Fuck Love on Thursday, June 18 at 8PM; a star-studded celebration of Michael Callen with Purple Heart: The Music of Michael Callen on Friday, June 19 at 8PM; a thrilling evening of music, comedy, theater, and magic in Spirit Night hosted by Henry Koperski and Larry Owens on Saturday, June 20 at 8PM; a staged pop opera about Typhoid Mary from Amy Ziff and Peter Kiesewalter entitled A Danger To Us All - Typhoid Mary on Thursday, June 25 at 8PM; Jomama Jones' Black Light, a critically acclaimed musical revival for turbulent times, on Friday, June 26 at 8PM; a one-night-only retrospective concert and celebration of a pop icon with Kevin Smith Kirkwood's Classic Whitney: Alive! on Saturday, June 27 at 8PM; the melancholy wit and a cockeyed worldview of Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra on Thursday, July 2 at 8PM; a night of unapologetically playful and reverent yet urgent music from performer, composer, activist, and musicologist Jeremy Dutcher on Friday, July 3 at 8PM; the creation of a safe space to process, to commune, and to laugh with Justin Sayre Makes The Case for America on Saturday, July 4 at 8PM; and an encounter with unbridled musical exploration, fully bonkers comedic storytelling, and Lady of a Certain Age pathos with Mrs. Smith's Grief & Rage Holiday Cabaret and Encounter Group on Saturday, July 18 at 8PM.
In addition to these presentations, Joe's Pub has launched Joe's Pub Live! Artist IG Live Takeovers, which occur daily on Joe's Pub Instagram. The current schedule includes Mondays at 4PM with Mireya Ramos (starting Monday, June 1), Tuesdays at 4PM with Ikechuwu Ufomadu, Wednesdays at 4PM with Roopa Mahadevan, Thursdays at 4PM with Julian Velard, Thursdays at 8PM with DJ Beverly Bond, Fridays at 4PM with Isaac Oliver, Saturdays at 4PM with Celisse Henderson, and Sundays at 4PM with Justin Elizabeth Sayre.
Isaac Oliver
Thursday, June 4 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Writer/performer Isaac Oliver (Intimacy Idiot, The New York Times, HBO's "High Maintenance," Netflix's "GLOW") returns to Joe's Pub for an evening of his signature sit-down comedy.
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on June 5, 2018.
Max Vernon: EXISTENTIAL LIFE CRISIS LULLABY
Friday, June 5 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Described by the New Yorker as "equal parts Bohemia and Broadway," Max Vernon has emerged as a singular and eccentric voice in the world of musical theatre. He received the Lucille Lortel Award for Best Musical, three Drama Desk Nominations, a Jonathan Larson Grant, and the Richard Rodgers Award for his musicals The View UpStairs and KPOP, both of which had critically acclaimed extended Off-Broadway runs. Following a sold-out debut at the Kennedy Center in 2018, he returned to Joe's Pub for a three concert-stint of high spectacle, high fashion, and high belted F sharps. Featuring a cast of Broadway stars and Downtown divas, Existential Life Crisis Lullaby will be a celebration of tattooed ladies, Korean popstars, '70s queer culture, the apocalypse, sentient robots, aging club kids, homicidal hipster cults, and... love?*
*Warning: costume changes will occur
Directed by Ellie Heyman
Costume design: Max Vernon
Video: Matt Marlinski
Guests:
Michael Longoria
Jo Lampert
Gianna Masi
Andy Mientus
Fancy Feast
Sophia Ramos
Helen Park
Leah Lane
Band:
James Dobinson - piano/music direction
Paul Heaney - guitar
Tristan Marzeski - drums
Alan Hewitt - bass
Avery Leight Draut, Michelle Geo, Gianna Masi - backup vocals
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on April 23, 2019.
Kim David Smith SINGS Kylie Minogue
Saturday, June 6 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Kim David Smith salutes perennial pop goddess, Kylie Minogue, with an intimately fabulous cabaret-fantasia celebrating Kylie's catalogue of gargantuan hits and glittering deep cuts, from 1987's The Loco-Motion all the way through to 2018's Golden. Labeled the "male Marlene Dietrich" by The New York Times, Smith deconstructs three decades of Minogue dance anthems with music direction by the multi-MAC Award winning Tracy Stark, and with costumes by Miodrag Guberinic (Katy Perry, Madonna, Nicki Minaj).
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on November 19, 2018.
Mira Awad WITH GUY MINTUS
Thursday, June 11 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Tel Aviv-based singer, songwriter, actress, and cultural activist Mira Awad has collaborated with many International Artists including Noa, Idan Raichel, Andrea Bocelli, Bobby McFerrin, and more. Born in Rameh village in the Galilee to a Palestinian father and Bulgarian mother, she studied at the Rimon School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Awad has developed a unique fusion of sounds, combining the East with the West, weaving the Arabic language and its oriental ornaments with Western harmonies, thus creating unique modern Arabic fusion music, with a rich tapestry of sounds.
As an actress, Awad participated in numerous theater productions, hosted several TV shows, and starred on the high rated series "Arab Labor." She established her own world music label called LabelFree and writes music for theatre and film. She teaches stage performance and gives talks.
Awad is very much identified with the agenda of dialogue and co-existence. She is a relentless peace activist and believes in anti-violence activity to build bridges towards resolutions.
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on February 28, 2019.
THE Martha Graham CRACKER CABARET
Friday, June 12 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
This balls-to-the-wall drag cabaret is hosted by Martha Graham Cracker, who is, perhaps, the world's tallest and hairiest drag queen. Backed by a four-piece live band, Martha Graham Cracker, hailed as "The Drag Queen King" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, performs new arrangements and mashups of songs by artists ranging from Prince and Lady Gaga to Black Sabbath and Nina Simone, and a bit of everything in between.
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on January 18, 2019.
2SCOOPS
Saturday, June 13 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Long after cassingles, beepers, and neon colors have gone out of style, these 2 girlz from around the way still cling tight 2 the music and style of the 90's. Holding the world record for the most breakups of any group in history, they were recently reunited, broken up again, and re-reunited on the Joe's Pub stage. Don't Miss Dana and Deena for a night of fresh tales, classic jamz, and the same ol' bad attitudes.
2Scoops is written and performed by Adam Enright & Aaron Fuksa
Video content filmed & directed by Chris Ford at Glamsmash Productions
"Donuts" - written by Sharon Kenny
2Scoops Photography by John Keon
Production Manager: Scott Delacruz
Meaghan Sands Ungar - Kiffany
Oprah - Oprah
Austin Sanders - TMZ
Ryan Chittaphong
Kimberly Chesser
Alyssa Kim
Robbie Guerra
James Roberts IV
John Swader
Travis Kent - Caveman
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on April 15, 2019.
Lea DeLaria: FUCK LOVE
Thursday, June 18 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Lea DeLaria seems to have achieved overnight stardom with her three-time, SAG Award-winning, standout role as Carrie 'Big Boo' Black in the Netflix hit series "Orange Is the New Black." However, DeLaria's multi-faceted career as a comedian, actress, and jazz musician, has, in fact, spanned decades.
DeLaria holds the distinction of being the first openly gay comic on television in America, which led to countless television and film roles portraying police lieutenants, PE teachers, and the lesbian who inappropriately hits on straight women.
Selected TV credits: "The Code," "Shameless," "Broad City," "Baroness Von Sketch," "The Jim Gaffigan Show," "Awkward," "Clarence," "Californication," "The Oblongs," "One Live to Live," "Law and Order: SVU," "Will and Grace," "Friends," and "Matlock." Selected Film credits: Cars 3, Support The Girls, First Wives Club, Dear Dumb Diary, and Edge of Seventeen.
She's received Obie & Theater World Awards, and a Drama Desk nomination for her portrayal as Hildy in The Public Theater's revival of On the Town, and has played both Eddie & Dr. Scott in the gender-bending Broadway musical The Rocky Horror Show.
DeLaria was the featured vocalist at the 50th Anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival, and has performed in some of the most prestigious houses in the world including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Chicago Symphony, Hollywood Bowl, The Royal Albert Hall, and the Sydney Opera House.
DeLaria has five records on the Warner Jazz and Classics label and her book Lea's Book of Rules for the World is in its third printing at Bantam Doubleday and Dell.
Her sixth record, House Of David delaria+bowie=jazz, was released in the summer of 2015 to critical acclaim.
DeLaria can currently be seen as Queenie in Hulu's "Reprisal," and as Molly Yarnchopper in the Netflix and DreamWorks animated series "Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts."
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on February 14, 2019.
PURPLE HEART: THE MUSIC OF Michael Callen
Friday, June 19 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
As a composer, singer, writer, and activist, Michael Callen played a major role in shaping America's response to the AIDS epidemic. For Veteran's Day 2019, a stellar cast of singers and musicians breathed new life into Callen's music.
Special guests include Taylor Mac, Bridget Everett, Toshi Reagon, NathAnn Carrera, Richard Barone, Xavier Smith, Kat Edmonson, and more. Musical Direction by Matt Ray.
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on November 11, 2019.
SPIRIT NIGHT
Saturday, June 20 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Hosted by pianist/composer Henry Koperski and comedian/actor/singer Larry Owens, Spirit Night is a thrilling evening of music, comedy, theater, and magic (...and ghosts?). Expect to laugh, cry, and be amazed by the raw talent of some of NYC's most unique and special performers, including Ana Fabrega, Henry Russell Bergstein, Mo Fry Pasic, Nora Palka, Arti Gollapudi, Karolena Theresa, Ryan J. Haddad, Chris Murphy, and David Goldberg.
This stream will leave you with a warm, hopeful glow in your heart... or you will at least feel thoroughly entertained!
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on October 21, 2019.
A DANGER TO US ALL - TYPHOID MARY
Thursday, June 25 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Please join Amy Ziff (from the pop band BETTY) and Peter Kiesewalter (from the East Village Opera Company) for a stream of the staged debut of A Danger To Us All - Typhoid Mary, their Pop Opera about the infamous Typhoid Mary. This piece was performed by a chamber orchestra with electronics and five classical singers.
Follow the true journey of Mary Mallon, an Irish immigrant cook who managed to terrorize all of New York City. Was she a villainess or a victim? You will decide...
Libretto by Amy Ziff
Score by Peter Kiesewalter
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on October 21, 2019.
Jomama Jones: BLACK LIGHT
Friday, June 26 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Black Light is a revival for turbulent times. Jomama Jones invites us to the Crossroads to contemplate what we must choose at this moment in our own lives, in our civic relationships, in our country, and our world(s).
featuring
Daniel Alexander Jones - Jomama Jones / creator
Trevor Bachman - voice
Tariq Al-Sabir - voice, keys
Josh Quat - guitar, voice
Vuyo Sotashe - voice
Michelle Marie Osbourne - bass
Sean Dixon - drums
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on March 17, 2018.
Kevin Smith Kirkwood IS CLASSIC WHITNEY: ALIVE!
Saturday, June 27 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
In Classic Whitney: Alive!, the legendary Whitney Houston has come back to earth, reincarnated in the body of Kevin Smith Kirkwood, to deliver a one-night-only retrospective concert and celebration of some of her iconic live performances. Here, Whitney is backed by a full band and back-up singers (who also play guests including her mother Sissy Houston, brother Gary, and even Bobby Brown) and musical director Drew Wutke. With a script constructed from bits of her live concert banter, and re-enactments of her live concert musical arrangements, it's the ultimate Whitney tribute from the ultimate Whitney fan!
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on November 9, 2015.
Ethan Lipton & HIS ORCHESTRA
Thursday, July 2 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Dubbed "Best Lounge Act of 2009" by New York Magazine, Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra play an edgy brand of jazz/folk/alternative nosh with a chewy singer-songwriter center. With melancholy wit and a cockeyed worldview, sepia-toned frontman Lipton and band mates Eben Levy (guitar), Ian Riggs (bass) and Vito Dieterle (sax) deliver songs steeped in mixed-message sincerity and soul. The band has appeared at Celebrate Brooklyn, MASS MOCA, Bryant Park, the Camden Opera House, Tangier (LA), and Vermont Arts Exchange, and has been featured on NPR and radio stations around the country.
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on May 9, 2019.
JEREMY DUTCHER
Friday, July 3 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Performer, composer, activist, musicologist - these roles are all infused into Jeremy Dutcher's art and way of life. His music, too, transcends boundaries: unapologetically playful in its incorporation of classical influences, full of reverence for the traditional songs of his home, and teeming with the urgency of modern-day struggles of resistance.
A member of Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, Dutcher first did music studies in Halifax before taking a chance to work in the archives at the Canadian Museum of History, painstakingly transcribing Wolastoq songs from 1907 wax cylinders. "Many of the songs I'd never heard before, because our musical tradition on the East Coast was suppressed by the Canadian Government's Indian Act." Dutcher heard ancestral voices singing forgotten songs and stories that had been taken from the Wolastoqiyik generations ago.
As he listened to each recording, he felt his own musical impulses stirring from deep within. Long days at the archives turned into long nights at the piano, feeling out melodies and phrases, deep in dialogue with the voices of his ancestors. These "collaborative" compositions, collected together on his debut LP Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, are like nothing you've ever heard. Delicate, sublime vocal melodies ring out atop piano lines that cascade through a vibrant range of emotions. The anguish and joy of the past erupt fervently into the present through Dutcher's bold approach to composition and raw, affective performances enhanced by his outstanding tenor techniques.
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on April 20, 2019.
Justin Sayre MAKES THE CASE FOR AMERICA
Saturday, July 4 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Are you worried about the impending demise of our democracy? Has the approach of a fascist dictatorship got you feeling a little blue? Are you seething with anger as you're being "gaslighted," out of a future? Well not to worry, (still worry) but join Justin Elizabeth Sayre for a live "Love-in to Get You Through!"
Sayre invites you to "their apartment" for one of their "philosophizing nights," a ritual where Justin asks the big questions. Why are we here? What are we doing? The night involves lots of stories and all the feelings, and even a little fried chicken. The question for this show: what does it mean to be an American at this moment and how do we move forward?
Sayre is creating a safe space to process, to commune, and to laugh.
In the words of Allen Ginsberg, "America, I'm putting my queer shoulder to the wheel."
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on September 30, 2018.
MRS. SMITH'S GRIEF & RAGE HOLIDAY CABARET AND ENCOUNTER GROUP
Saturday, July 18 at 8:00PM
Access to this stream will bea??FREE and available to all on YouTube
Noted philanthropist, tone poet, and world's most unlikely guitar hero, Mrs. Smith returns to Joe's Pub for an encounter with unbridled musical exploration, fully bonkers comedic storytelling, and Lady of a Certain Age pathos. Hot off her appearance in a GUCCI commercial, Mrs. Smith will sonically delve into the traumatic life events that have made her the guitarist she is today. From her Little House on the Prairie-style childhood to her kidnapping at the hands of a Norwegian Death Metal band, Mrs. Smith will leave no stone unturned and no note unplayed. Featuring the music of Joe Satriani, Queen, Metallica, Judy Garland, and more.
Mrs. Smith is a philanthropist, cat lover, and the world's most unlikely guitar hero. Kidnapped and held for ransom by a Norwegian Death Metal Band, she suffered the Stockholm Syndrome which granted her extraordinary musical ability which she uses to raise awareness about her missing cat Carlyle. Mrs. Smith's music videos, online content, and explosive live shows are a hilarious and astounding combination of legit rock virtuosity and razor-sharp wit, all served with a healthy dose pathos.
Mrs. Smith's madcap mashup of high-camp comedy and authentic musicianship is a favorite with audiences and critics alike and she's been hailed by Guitar World Magazine as "America's next guitar savior," named "Best in Music," by the Vogue Editorial Board, and dubbed "compelling" by Rolling Stone.
Mrs. Smith's unique form of musical performance comedy has been seen on "America's Got Talent," PBS Television, and international ads for GUCCI. She has also performed at Bowery Ballroom, Joe's Pub, The Cutting Room, Williamsburg Music Hall, St. Vitus, and Zebulon LA, among many others. Her psychodramatic guitar clinics and gear demonstrations have been seen at The NAMM Show (LA), St. Louis College of Music in Rome, Musique Max in Montreal, and the legendary House of Guitars. She is endorsed by Ibanez Guitars, DiMarzio Pickups, Ernie Ball strings, and Mezzabarba Amps.
Recorded live at Joe's Pub on December 17, 2018.
Photo Credit: Luke Fontana
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