By now, you may have picked up on the fact that we’re currently in New York City (we’re just a little bit excited) as UK producers for Joe’s NYC Bar – and we’re having an excellent time.
True, we renamed our digs “the murder hotel” after being greeted by the smell of sweaty private parts and a creepy peeping eye from the room next door, on arrival. But once we got used to the idea of being strangeled in our sleep by someone’s unwashed genitals, things really started to look up.
In all seriousness though, it has been a hugely productive trip already, and we’ve still got another five days here to make more New York magic.
It’s a sell out, folks!
Not surprisingly (to us, as we think it’s a brilliant show with an amazing cast), Joe’s NYC Bar is off to a fabulous start, with a sell-out opening weekend and a happy, heaving bar throughout the run so far.
We’ve had several superb artists as house bands, including our very talented pal Louise Oliver (accompanied by Chris Gorman), and the incredible Michelle Shocked, who wowed us all with a very special a capella rendition of Gare de Lyon.
Michelle is back at Joe’s NYC Bar this eve (Wed 11th Jan) to do another gig for us, and we’ve got an additional four shows after that, with seats filling up quickly. If you’re reading this and want to come along, tickets are available at www.joesnycbar.com – or just give us a shout on email: wearecivil@outlook.com
The Hollywood legend you never heard of…
We’ve also managed to meet up with a bunch of inspiring arts industry friends – old and new – to discuss some very exciting 2017/18 projects that we’ve got in the pipeline.
One of these projects is a beautiful one-woman show called PLACES, about Hollywood and Broadway legend Alla Nazimova. She was an acting powerhouse of the silent movie era, and openly gay; an incredible woman who was brushed under the carpet due to her sexuality.
The show stars the wonderful Romy Nordlinger and we’re going to be coproducing it at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe with the awesome Katie McHugh of Yonder Window. We’re super-chuffed to be adding this important queer work to our 2017 portfolio, and can’t wait to get started!
Secrets on a postcard…
We also had a very inspiring meeting this week with Kahlil Ashanti, setting the wheels in motion to help programme a UK tour of PostSecret in 2018.
PostSecret was created by Frank Warren, TJ Dawe, Kahlil Ashanti, and Justin Sudds. It started off as a blog set up by Warren, to which members of the public could send their deepest, darkest secrets anonymous on a postcard. The site became an online phenomenon of user-generated stories, spawning six books and now a live show.
We’ve started to look at potential tier one and tier two venues across the UK for the tour. So, if you want to find out more or throw your hat in the ring, get in touch.
Creating a monster…
Tomorrow we’re sitting down with Roddy Bottum (of Faith No More fame) to talk all things Sasquatch – his modern opera about a misunderstood monster, which we’re helping him launch at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe.
We’ll be updating him on our progress in getting the world premiere set up on our home turf, and find out where he’s at in terms of music, script, and casting preferences.
And a visit to Sandra Monica Boulevard…
Needsless to say, we’ve managed to squeeze in some time for cocktails and non-work-related fun too, including a trip to The Brooklyn Museum to take in the excellent Marilyn Minter exhibition and some Iggy Pop nudes.
A definite highlight was getting to see our longstanding hero Sandra Bernhard perform a segment of her new show, Sandra Monica Boulevard, at Feinstein’s/54 Below.
As you would expect we were blown away by Sandy, as well as a host of other talent (Marilyn Maye, you should come to Edinburgh; we can hook you up, gurl!) – and some very strong and deliciously dirty martinis.
Well, it’s time for us to get ready and head out for another day of New York adventures – but we’ll be back on here and our Instagram page with more Big Apple updates, so watch this space.
wearecivildisobedience.com 