Joan Rivers Cancels UK Return of 'Progress' Due to Scheduling Conflicts; To Appear on Celeb Apprentice

It has been confirmed that Joan Rivers has cancelled the return season of her one-woman show Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress in Leicester Square Theatre. The show, which ran at the theater from August 29th through September 18th 2008 was scheduled to return on December 2nd where it would run through January 29th, 2009.

Producer Martin Witts said today: "It is with great sadness that I have to announce that Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress will not have its full London run. Audiences and critics have been unanimous in their praise, and Joan and the cast never failed to get nightly standing ovations. We had initially hoped to just postpone the rest of the performances but can't get a commitment on exactly when this could be so we have decided to refund all tickets sold."

It was confirmed back in July by Rivers that she would be a contestant on the upcoming season of "Celeb Apprentice", a spin-off of Trump's popular series "The Apprentice" with celebrity contestants. Back in July the celebrity stated in an interview, "I have a play in Edinburgh that will go to London. I have two books coming out. I have a tour going around with my comedy act. I have my jewelry company. I perform Wednesday nights at [the New York club] The Cutting Room. I'm in a series called Z Rock coming to IFC [Independent Film Channel], doing a TV pilot, offered another game show and will be on Celebrity Apprentice."

While it's not clear which specific project of hers conflicted with the UK run, sources are stating that it was one of her television projects that made performing in the UK impossible.

Joan Rivers is a best-selling author, Tony-nominated actress, playwright, screenwriter, motion picture director, Emmy Award-winning television talk-show host, jewelry designer, business woman and mother to "what's-her-name" Melissa. She is on the board of God's Love We Deliver, National Chairwoman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and gives lectures around the world on suicide prevention and survival. With her trademark mix of outspoken wit, savvy and compassion, she continues to be one of America's most admired first ladies of comedy.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Joan Rivers "made the rounds" in New York during the '50s, appearing in a few off-off Broadway plays (including one where she played a lesbian opposite an equally unknown Barbra Streisand), surviving sleazy agents, tawdry clubs, and hostile audiences. A 1965 booking on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" led to her hosting one of the first syndicated talk shows on daytime TV, "That Show with Joan Rivers" in 1968. In the '70s Joan wrote the TV-movie The Girl Most Likely To (starring Stockard Channing) and then wrote and directed her first feature film Rabbit Test, casting Billy Crystal in the lead. In 1983 Joan became the permanent guest host on "The Tonight Show." Later, she headlined in Las Vegas, sold out Carnegie Hall, produced a Grammy nominated comedy album, and wrote two best-selling books. In 1989 the Tribune Corporation launched Joan in her own syndicated daytime talk show. She won an Emmy and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1994 she wrote and starred on Broadway in Sally Marr and Her Escorts, for which she received a Best Actress Tony nomination. Since then, Joan has written three more best-selling books, maintains her own jewelry line on QVC, provided fashion commentaries for E! and The TV Guide Channel, and filmed a special for Bravo

Joan Rivers will be bringing her stand-up back to New York on Election Day November 4 at The Cutting Room. Her full schedule at The Cutting Room is:

Tuesday, Nov. 4 8 PM (Election Day)
Wednesday, Nov. 5 8 PM & 9:30 PM (Two shows)
Thursday Nov. 6 9:30 PM
Friday, Nov. 7 10:30 PM
Wednesday, November 19 8 PM
Wednesday, December 10 8 PM
Wednesday, December 17 8 PM

For more information please visit www.spincyclenyc.com

Photo Credit Charles William Bush

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