The Slipper Room is a New York institution. A House of Variety!
The Slipper Room is facing serious financial difficulties.
I did a wonderful interview with producer James Habacker in 2016. I am posting it here for your viewing. In the meantime, I have put a link below the video to the GoFundMe campaign that is currently set up to help them make it back in one piece! Please Help!
The Slipper Room – No Place Like it!
In the meantime, you can watch some of the ‘exile’ shows here!
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When you visit Coney Island USA you have an odd feeling you have stepped into another time. This ‘not-for-profit’ corporation is dedicated to ‘popular entertainment’ and like the rest of Coney Island, it means fun and excitement.
Dick Zigun is the founder of this wonderful oasis and has created a “Sideshow Hall of Fame” for all of us that are a ‘little different’.
Here he explains it all for you in this Vaudevisuals interview.
Become a member of Coney Island USA!
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Sarah The Bird Girl performing at Coney Island USA
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With her uncanny resemblance to Minnie, Sarah presents a haunting and visceral account of the beauty of difference and a hidden story of endurance, from the voice of a natural born freak. Koo Koo and the other unlikely stars of Tod Browning’s revolutionary film, Freaks (1932), are also honored in this performance. Significant, because the film was banned for 30 years for being too controversial, yet it is so much part of our history. Minnie went on to work at Coney Island, ensuring she was free from the life of asylums. This is a very special Coney Island show that will give you both answers and leave you wanting more.
As an internationally acclaimed circus and physical theater performer, Sarah has performed for several companies around the world, including Cirque Du Soleil. Most recently she starred as lead female in feature film ‘Reflections in the Dust’ and toured with Extant Theatre UK. She has a TEDx talk and recently spoke at the United Nations. “Koo Koo the Bird Girl” won an Australian Green Room Award 2019 for Contemporary Performance.
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“This is a terrific show – intelligent, emotional and witty, and a direct challenge to the audience’s expectations about performance, identity and what it means to look and be looked at.”
“This is a performance that explores, beautifully, the capacities of the body and the self, rather than letting the differently abled body be shaped by restrictive legal, social and medical strictures that mark ‘deviance’ as a negative thing, instead of a marker of the breadth of human experience.” – New Zealand Theater Review
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“Amazing, moving and revealing… This is an important performance… ” – Express Magazine, Nov 2015
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“Houbolt’s performance evokes a frisson that every misjudged soul can recognise… Evocative… impressive… Houbolt has a gravitas earned through many years performing around the world… Her demonstration of side show is a rare treat.” – Nothing Ever Happens in Brisbane, Nov 2016
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“A show that smashes boundaries between herself and the audience… truly unique” – The Creative Issue Nov 2016
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Excerpt from Tod Browning’s “Freaks” featuring Koo Koo the Bird Girl.
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For more information/tickets go here!
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Theatre at St. John’s in Association with Yorick Theater Company
presents
FIRST EVER REVIVAL OF
Charles Ludlam’s
Starring and Directed by
Vaudevisuals interviewed Ridiculous Theatrical Company member Everett Quinton. He discusses his revival of Charles Ludlam‘s ‘Critics Choice’ play “Galas” which is coming to Theater at St. John’s in Greenwich Village for a Limited Run.
June 13-28th, 2019.
(Originally produced in 1983 to rave reviews ‘One of the 10 Best Plays of the Year’. New York Times and Time Magazine)
The playing schedule for GALAS is as follows: Monday through Sunday evenings at 8pm, with official opening scheduled for Sunday, June 16th. There is an additional matinee performance on Sunday, June 16th at 3pm. There will be no performances on Tuesday, June 18th; Monday, June 24th; and Thursday, June 27th. Tickets are $25 and are available online HERE!
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Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising and celebrating World Pride!
Michael Bongar was the featured performer at the November 2009 NY Downtown Clown Revue. Coming from a theatre background but being enticed by the circus, Michael tells us about his move from theatre to clown and what things he thinks are important to the discipline of the clown.
Michael Bongar sheds his three-piece suit for this wild excerpt from his one-man show MAGIC MIKE. A wonderful mockery of mediocre magic and the people that perform it.
And here is a wonderful video Michael used to promote his business BongarBiz.
Many of New York’s finest variety performers are hired by Michael Bongar (BongarBiz) for any number of different kinds of shows/events. He really deserves a lot of credit for featuring many acts in many jobs for quite a few years!
My hat goes off to Michael – Thanks for helping keep the variety-arts and clown community alive!
And here is where you can reach Michael to hire ‘Magic Mike’ or any talent!
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Erin Markey’s show is so much fun! From her stories to her songs to her antics on stage – the audience was enjoying every minute of this “Greatest Hits”.
Luckily I was in the front row leaning on the stage. Here are some shots for this wonderful show.
Erin sang many wonderful songs from her shows.
The other woman in (Girl Group) the show sang a chorus with beautiful voices.
The emotions that she evokes during her songs are so heartfelt.
Becca Blackwell and Erin Markey singing a fight between them.
Notes from the Program:
What we’re trying to say is that Erin Markey and co-composer Emily Bate will present musical excerpts from their critically acclaimed musical A Ride On The Irish Cream (2016)*, slow-jam cabaret funeral Boner Killer (2017), and in-development Beach Boys/Spice Girls inspired energy concert Little Surfer (2019). They wouldn’t dare do it by themselves, though. With them are a rock band, a girl group, infamous schmerm/lover Becca Blackwell and many disgusting exceptions to Markey’s no-sequins rule in the costume department. The audience is invited to watch as Erin’s comedic storytelling melts into gorgeous harmony-driven music, but guaranteed: Erin will turn her wild eye on you and give you a slumber party command you don’t dare disobey.
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In places where resources are scarce, laughter can be abundant. Clowns Without Borders (CWB) brings small teams of professional artists to perform in refugee camps, conflict zones, and sites of a natural disaster.In 1993, a letter from Croatian refugees to Spanish clown Tortell Pontrona sparked engagement. “You know what we miss most? We miss laughter.” From there, CWB was born. Since then, it has grown to an international NGO, with chapters in 14 countries, reaching over 400,000 displaced children a year.
Our work takes us to the beaches of Lesvos, Greece, the hills of rural El Salvador, the deserts of South Sudan. Though the audience changes, the result is the same. An invitation to play is sometimes all that is needed to help recapture a sense of childhood. We are reminded time and time again, that we all laugh in the same language.
Like laughter, our impact ripples outward, energizing children and the adults who care for them. In a world often divided and stark, Clowns Without Borders proudly co-creates and collaborates cross-culturally.
Come learn about how laughter creates community and builds resilience.
presents
What happens when you put a clown in a room with 1000 ping pong balls? KING PONG!
KING PONG’S PING PONG RODEO is a truly unique variety show that dares to ask: When is enough, enough? How much is TOO much? Why do Americans go so far? KING PONG combines two of America’s favorite pastimes, “spittin’ and shootin!’”
Michael Trautman has mastered the skills of working with Ping-Pong balls!
His pure joy of manipulating and playing with Ping-Pong balls is so contagious.
He brings together skills from many disciplines and weaves them together effortlessly.
Managing to put so many Ping-Pong balls in his mouth is hysterical.
Michael works with so many wonderful ‘vaudeville’ style routines in this show.
There is so much to see in this show and his character makes it all very playful.
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As of this posting you only have 2 more chances to see his wonderful show. Great for the entire family!
SAT 6/3 3PM
SUN 6/4 @4PM
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Outré Island is Chris Rozzi’s ongoing comedy saga of a lost civilization and its many unusual citizens. This is the island as you’ve never seen it before, including all sorts of treats, guests, and surprises. Featuring Anna Copa Cabana and Matt Roper.
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Oh, by the way, these two wonderful folks will be joining Chris that evening!
For more information/tickets go here!
Check out Blond Thunder Presents Interview with Chris Rozzi on Radio Vaudeville – June 1st!
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Energy and beauty bound together with food!
What a great evening of movement theater. Les 7 Doigts, the company behind the Tony Award-winning Pippin brings all their amazing skills and passion to the ‘Cuisine & Confessions’ show playing at NYU Skirball Center.
I was at the dress/photo shot and got some nice photographs of the company BUT nothing will take the place of seeing this show!
A Mouth-Watering Blend of Theater with a Pinch of Circus, Mixed with a Side of Cooking
Anna Kichtchenko warming up before the photo shoot.
Bringing an audience member on stage to share the food they are preparing on stage.
After serving the audience volunteer and serenading her with accordion music.
The cast celebrates after the audience member has eaten their food!
Dancing and acrobatics, juggling and cooking make this show a unique experience.
Anna Kichtchenko gets lifted to the sky to perform her beautiful movements.
The company performs brilliantly together with choreography and gesture.
Anna Kichtchenko performs beautiful acrobatic moves while in the air.
Landed and safe on the stage with a ribbon twirling down on her.
The company posed for a group shot after the photo shoot.
(Not in order -Sidney Iking Bateman, Melvin Diggs, Mishannok Ferraro, Danica Gagnon-Plamondon, Anna Kichtchenko, Gabriela Parigi, Emile Pineault, Matias Plaul, Pablo Pramparo)
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Cuisine & Confessions is directed by Shana Carroll and Sébastien Soldevila and produced by NYU Skirball. It is part of the second annual Tilt Kids Festival, a cultural event for families presented by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF).
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Cuisine & Confessions will play seven performances, as follows: April 11 – 14 at 7:30 pm; April 15 at 2 and 8 pm; and April 16 at 3 pm. Tickets are $45 – $99 and may be purchased online at www.nyuskirball.org or in person at the NYU Skirball Center Box Office: Tuesday-Saturday, 12:00–6:00 P.M.
NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is located at 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square, New York, New York 10012.
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Related videos for this show. 1. Promo show video 2. Performer talks about the company.
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ABOUT THE 7 FINGERS
The 7 Fingers (Les 7 Doigts), based in Montreal, was created in 2002 with the goal of making circus a transformative experience for audiences and nurturing new generations of circus artists. The company is made up of 200 artists, administrators, and technicians, and presents roughly 1,000 performances a year — both artistic collaborations and signature shows. The 7 Fingers strive to reach the universal, extraordinary, indefinable, visceral, and intimate worlds in each human being. The company’s credits include the New York productions of Traces, which ran for one year and is currently touring; the Tony Award-winning revival of Pippin; and direction of the immersive Queen of the Night, as well as two appearances on “America’s Got Talent” and direction of the first segment of the opening ceremony of Sotchi Olympics.
