Theater Meets Cabaret in Austin Pendleton and Barbara Bleier's Dark New Holiday Show

Austin Pendleton and Barbara Bleier, seen last summer in "Late Nights in Smoky Bars," return to Pangea with a holiday show, 'TIS THE SEASON TO BE MORBID. Their characters, friends who have gone through many stages of life together, meet periodically to catch up, reminisce, and work out problems. Through stories and songs, they address the joys and problems of the holiday season, and remember seasons passed. The repertoire includes music by Richard Maltby & David Shire, Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford, Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, an unpublished song by John Bucchino and Amanda McBroom, and Stephen Sondheim, among others. Barbara Maier, voice coach to many downtown stars, returns as director, and Paul Greenwood returns as musical director. Show dates are Dec. 5th and 12th, 2016, and Jan. 5th, 2017. All performances are at 7PM.

Please visit the following link for tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com. Call 212.995.0900 for additional information. Tickets booked in advance are $20 (plus online fee). If purchased at the door, they are $25 (CASH). Pangea has a $20 table minimum per person, and accepts Visa, MC and American Express for food and drink.

Austin Pendleton is an actor, director, playwright and teacher of acting, whose first Broadway appearance was as Motel the Tailor in the original production of Fiddler on the Roof, directed by Jerome Robbins, and starring Zero Mostel. He has since appeared frequently on, off and off-off Broadway, and can be seen in approximately 200 films. His frequent TV appearances include roles on Oz, Homicide, Law and Order and Billions. In New York, he has directed BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY and four shows at CSC (UNCLE VANYA, THREE SISTERS, IVANOV and HAMLET) featuring such players as Peter Sarsgaard (Hamlet), Maggie Gyllenhall and Ethan Hawke. Pendleton is the author of three plays (ORSON'S SHADOW, UNCLE BOB, BOOTH) all published and produced in New York, and, in the case of Uncle Bob and Orson's Shadow, internationally. He has most recently directed A DAY AT THE BEACH for the Mint Theatre Company, and A TASTE OF HONEY for the Pearl Theatre. He teaches acting in New York at HB Studio, where he studied with Uta Hagen and Herbert Berghof. He also studied acting with Robert Lewis.

BARBARA BLEIER is a singer, actor and playwright who has appeared in solo shows and revues in national and international cabaret, as well as appearing on stage, in film, and on TV. She played the mother of a psychopathic killer in the cult classic, SWOON, and appeared in the film THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU, with Jane Fonda and Tina Fey, and in THEY CAME TOGETHER, with Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler. Bleier just completed a cabaret engagement in Los Angeles at the Gardenia. Her solo show, WHO'S YOUR MAMA?, was selected for production in the NYC Women at Work Festival, and her two-person revue with Austin Pendleton, UNDECIDED, received critical praise in New York and Chicago. She has studied acting with Austin Pendleton, singing with Barbara Maier, and musical performance with the late Julie Wilson at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center.

East Village hideaway Pangea fuses uptown sophistication with downtown experimentation to create an artistic environment all its own. The one-of-a-kind restaurant-bar and cabaret features a deliciously priced Italian-Mediterranean menu.

Photo Credit: Jackie Rudin