Friday - Why Billi Pod Lives in The Greatest City in the World.

Living in The Greatest City in the World is awesome on a day-to-day basis but sometimes even moi becomes a little blasé about the almost unlimited entertainment opportunities that are available only a mouse-click away. Yes, my loyal and faithful readers, I know that my lifestyle isn’t to everyone’s taste and that there are those living in the hinterlands that just don’t understand, but what happened this morning is an example of what I mean.

What do I mean by “mean,” you are no doubt breathlessly asking? Well, today is Friday the 19th of June, meaning a little less than a half of a month to go. This morning in less than 10 minutes of online time I was able to complete my entertainment schedule for 10 of the remaining 12 days/nights of the month. And, almost everything scheduled is either complimentary or at a substantial discount.

So, without further ado, this is what Billi Pod’s Big Apple entertainment schedule looks like for the reminder of the month of June --

Friday - 8:00 - “The Temperamentals” - Off Broadway. “Jon Marans' play tells the story of two men - the communist Harry Hay and the Viennese refugee and designer Rudi Gernreich - as they fall in love while building the first gay rights organization in the United States pre-Stonewall. The play weaves together the personal and political to tell a relatively unknown chapter in gay history. It explores the love between two complex men, as their impossible dream of forming such an unheard of organization becomes a reality in this perilous, unpredictable world.” (discounted TDF ticket). This show has generated great advance word-of-mouth and I am really looking forward to seeing it.

Saturday - 7:00 - “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom” - Off Broadway. The press blurb for this show is: “Written by Charles Busch. The show is a send-up of vampiric tales and actress's vanity. The story begins in Sodom, transports us to 1920s Hollywood, and drops us on a modern stage. The rivalry begins in Sodom where a guard is lamenting his social life and a succubus is awaiting a sacrificial virgin. The virgin is turned into a succubus and a 2000 year battle of feminine wiles, toothy marks, and blackmail ensues. It is a mirthful love-hate relationship that sustains them both." (complementary ticket).

Sunday - 3:30 - “#9” - Off Broadway. “#9.” “A musical exploration of the information age and its discontents. (discounted TDF ticket).

7:00 - “Dance of the Seven Headed Mouse” - Off Broadway. “Fault lines are exposed when a seemingly picture-perfect Fifth Avenue family faces the harshest of realities, the death of their daughter. A father turns to work to drown his sorrow, while his wife drifts into a haze of pills and booze. When their surviving child Avril inexplicably drops out of her prestigious New England boarding school, her roommate Juliana arrives for a visit, determined to lure her back. Acting as a catalyst and witness, Juliana exposes the gaping cracks in the family's Upper East Side facade, forcing its three surviving members to engage with one another and the tragedy they share. (discounted TDF ticket).

Monday - 7:30 -”The Tricky Part” - Off Broadway. This is a one-man show written and performed by Martin Moran. “A true story of sexuality, spirituality and the mystery of human experience, this show is one of the most heralded one-man plays in recent memory. Between the ages of 12 and 15, Martin Moran had a sexual relationship with an older man. Now 42 and an established New York actor, he has transformed his story into a journey through the complexities of Catholicism, desire and human trespass.” (discounted TDF ticket).

Tuesday - 8:00 - “Unmitigated Truth: Life, a Lavatory, Loves and Ladies” - Off Broadway. “Emmy Award Winner and Four-time Tony Award Nominee Melvin Van Peebles performs his newly penned show. With his characteristic wit and sharp eye, Van Peebles's latest work candidly recounts the memories of a life well lived, ...well almost, through song. The production also features music director and guitarist William "Spaceman" Patterson and vocalist Carmen Barika.” (complimentary ticket).

Wednesday - 3:00 - “Don’t Leave It All To Your Children” - Off Broadway. “Steve Rossi (who partnered with Marty Allen in the famous Allen & Rossi comedy team), Marcia Rodd (Last of the Red Hot Lovers), Ronnie Schell (Gomer Pyle) and Barbara Minkus (Picon Pie) are the veteran performers featured in this new musical comedy. The show is 85 minutes of music and comedy that celebrates the occasionally bumpy but amusing journey as baby boomers become "seniors".” (discounted TDF ticket)

7:30 - New York Philharmonic Orchestra @ Avery Fisher Hall. This is the last concert program by conductor Lorin Maazel who will be ending his tenure with the orchestra at the end of the month. He is going out in style with this concert which will be Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 “Symphony of a Thousand.” (season subscription series).

Thursday - 7:30 - “Tin Pan Alley Rag” - Off Broadway. “Two of America's greatest composers, Irving Berlin and Scott Joplin, share an evening of fascinating stories and toe-tapping rhythms. This show weaves their tales together into one syncopated rhythm, as two great icons discover they have more in common than they ever imagined." (Roundabout Theater subscription series).

Friday - June 26 - open at the moment

Saturday - 8:00 - “Danny and Sylvia: The Danny Kaye Musical” - Off Broadway. “This new musical stars Helen Hayes Award winner Brian Childers as Danny Kaye and Kimberly Faye Greenberg as his wife and creative partner, Sylvia Fine, who wrote many of his most famous songs. The musical follows the duo from the time the young undisciplined comic Danny Kaminsky meets aspiring songwriter Sylvia Fine at an audition in the 1930s. Under Sylvia's guidance as mentor, manager and, eventually, wife, Kaye rises from improvisational comic to international film star.” (discounted TDF ticket).

Sunday - open at the moment

Monday - 7:30 - “The Umbilical Brothers: Speedmouse” - Off Broadway. I have seen these guys several times and they are truly unbelievable. This is the press blurb: “These toon-like troublemakers mimic sounds, creating a warped world where they whip up another uproarious fiesta of carefully choreographed mayhem. Silly behavior of the highest quality. Up to the minute tomfoolery in the new vaudeville tradition of thinking man's clowns. Like Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd on the set of Terminator." (discounted TDF ticket)

Tuesday - June 30 - 7:05 - Yankees vs. Seattle.

So, to those of you who had the courage and stamina to read this way too long blog from beginning to end, I hope you understand that this is the reason(s) why Billi Pod is, and will forever more be, an awestruck resident of New York City - The Greatest City in The World.

Go Yankees and Go Gators!!!

Billi Pod
"Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you."