THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED – BUT YOU CAN STILL CHECK OUT THE SHOW!

It’s not every day that we get to offer An Ideal Husband to someone as a gift – but that’s exactly what The Happiest Medium is doing this month!  Okay, so it’s not a real husband, but if you’re a fan of Oscar Wilde at his best then you’ll want to get your hands on these tickets any way you can.  So, try and win a pair from us first – one lucky winner will walk away with two seats to the night of their choice!

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Big Rodent  is producing Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband at Wings Theater (154 Christopher St., West Village, NYC)  from July 15-24. Oscar Wilde’s dark and witty comedy, now set in a time of Mods vs. Rockers, Prewar vs. Postwar, and Society vs. Free Love. Greed, guilt, and love all vie to control the fate of a family, and all in time to get supper at the club!

One lucky grand prize winner will receive:

• A pair of tickets to An Ideal Husband good for any night during the run (July 15 – 24)

To enter, correctly answer the following question:

Q. What YEAR does this updated version of An Ideal Husband take place?

(Wanna hint? Check out the artwork)

Email us your answer with your first and last name to giveaways@thehappiestmedium.com, all entries must be received by Wednesday July 14th.

Click here for contest guidelines.

Good luck!

Related Posts:

• A Gal, A Plan, A Canal – An Ideal Husband
• Special Edition Giveaway – Fringe Edition
• Win Tickets To The Unfortunate Honeymoon Of Tony And Steve
• THM GIVEAWAY – Win Tickets To Modotti!
• Win Tickets To Barrier Island

viBe Theater Experience (viBe) is a non-profit performing arts/ education organization that empowers teenage girls through the creation and production of original performances.

viBeSolos is an advanced program for independent, courageous young women interested in writing and performing a solo show.

Four to six girls, individually, create their own “one-girl-show” workshopped and guided in collaboration with a professional dramaturg/director and the other participants. viBeSolos express each girl’s unique vision of her world. Since 2004, viBe has produced the extraordinary solo performances of over 30 young women.

And it’s going on right now! 4 original one-girl-shows written & performed by amazing teenage girls.

Don’t miss:

Elaina’s “reflections through a stained glass window”
Natasha’s “cirque de natasha”
Sabrina’s “alter-ego”
Tiffany’s “how to spell”

Monday April 19 at 7pm
Tuesday April 20 at 7pm

at HERE Arts Center – 145 6th ave (btw Spring & Broome; enter on Dominick)

ADMISSION IS FREE!

Related Posts:

• Vodka Shoes Fit All Sizes (Frigid Festival 2010)

Keep reading for a chance to win tickets . . .

Written by award-winning playwright David Stallings, and directed by Cristina Alicea; Barrier Island tackles the nature of a fearless community that chooses to stake their lives on the strength of the historic Galveston seawall — built to protect the island from natural disasters — as they await the arrival of one of the most devastating hurricanes to hit the United States since Katrina, Hurricane Ike. Nominated for the 2009 Weissberger Award (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Barrier Island is the first play in “The Galveston Cycle.”

Barrier Island will play a 4-week limited engagement at Center Stage NY (48 West 21st Street, 4th Floor, Buzzer 401#). Performances begin Friday, April 30th through Saturday, May 22nd.

One lucky grand prize winner will receive:

• A pair of tickets to the first week of Barrier Island at Center Stage NY.

To enter, correctly answer the following question:

Q. What is Barrier’s twitter account?

(Wanna cheat? Find the answer at  www.MTWorks.org )

Email us your answer with your first and last name to giveaways@thehappiestmedium.com, all entries must be received by Friday, April 23rd.

Click here for contest guidelines.

Good luck!

Related Posts:

• The 2012 National Newborn Festival Is Almost Here!
• The National Newborn Festival: Celebrating Emerging Playwrights In Style
• Small Town, Big Show – “Barrier Island”
• Ever Seen A “NewBorn” Play? (Part 1)
• The Stranger To Kindness: 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)

Congratulations to the winner of our Soup Show Giveaway — Nancy Cohen!

Nancy was randomly chosen from those who correctly answered our trivia question. (Q: Who is the director for The Soup Show? A: Lauren Sharpe)

Nancy won a pair of tickets to The Soup Show playing at HERE Arts Center. (For more information check out the official site.)

Thanks to everyone who participated and check back each month as we give away more tickets to more great shows!

Related Posts:

• Special Edition Giveaway – Fringe Edition
• Win Tickets To The Unfortunate Honeymoon Of Tony And Steve
• Win Tickets To An Ideal Husband!
• THM GIVEAWAY – Win Tickets To Modotti!
• Win Tickets To Barrier Island

New York Neo-Futurists Desiree Burch, Cara Francis & Erica Livingston serve up a cure for what ails you in this Neo-Medicine show, performing in and around a giant pot of self-made soup. Bottling this soup, as well as a series of elixirs, potions, tonics and products, they heal and reveal the female experience live, honest and in the flesh.

Incorporating ingredients from interviews, living newspaper, personal stories, circus acts and freak shows, the women of The Soup Show ultimately feed their audiences with a question “How far has the women’s movement moved us?” The fierce trio honor the 30th Anniversary of Women’s History Month, and show you why the readers of the Village Voice named The New York Neo-Futurists “The 2009 Best Performance Artists in New York.”

ADVISORY: adult language and nudity.

One lucky grand prize winner will receive:

• A pair of tickets to The Soup Show at HERE Arts Center, for Sunday, March 7th at 7:00 pm

To enter, correctly answer the following question:

Q. Who is the director for The Soup Show?

(Wanna cheat? The answer is at  www.nyneofuturists.org/site/index.php?/site/soupshow )

Email us your answer with your first and last name to giveaways@thehappiestmedium.com, all entries must be received by Friday, March 5th at 10am.

Click here for contest guidelines.

Good luck!

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• I’ll Take The Soup … Neo-Futurists Serve It Up Fresh At “The Soup Show”
• NEXT – There’s Always A First Time — For Everything
• Be [un]afraid … Very [un]afraid: The Neos Show Us The Many Faces Of Fear

I cannot believe it’s been a year since the last time I brought news of Off-Broadway’s great 20@20 discount.  But hey, that’s how it is with seasonal things. Anywhoo … here we are again, at TWENTY @ TWENTY season which is possibly the best time of year to go see a great Off-Broadway show.  As far as truth in advertising goes, there’s no deal that’s better, for this one is exactly what it says it is.  For the next week or so head on down to any one of these great theatres (click on the links for theatre information) and twenty minutes before the show starts say “twenty at twenty” at the box office and get a ticket for twenty bucks.  Happy Now? You Betcha!  My Dear Edwina, it’s not only The Perfect Crime, it’s Fantastick(s). You’ll feel like Cinderella sipping a MazelTov Cocktail at her Awesome 80s Prom.  And just wait till the Naked Boys (start) Singing! Don’t wait till it’s Zero Hour … get yourself to one of these great shows (or one of the ones I wasn’t able to slyly work into the conversation – I’m talking to YOU Circumcise Me) NOW.  Keep reading for more information:

Ages of the Moon Linda Gross Theater 336 West 20th Street www.atlantictheater.org Happy Now? 59E59 Theaters59 East 59th Street www.primarystages.org Alice in Wonderland Through the Looking Glass The Actors Temple Theatre 339 West 47th Street www.stlukestheatre.com Love, Loss, and What I Wore Westside Theater 407 West 43rd Street www.lovelossonstage.com Awesome 80s Prom Webster Hall 125 East 11th Street www.awesome80sprom.com MazelTov Cocktail McGinn-Cazale Theatre 2162 Broadway www.mazeltovcocktailtheplay.com Black Angels Over Tuskegee St. Luke’s Theatre 308 West 46th Street www.stlukestheatre.com Naked Boys Singing! New World Stages 340 West 50th Street www.nakedboyssinging.com Cinderella Players Theatre 115 MacDougal Street www.theplayerstheater.com NEWSical the Musical 47th Street Theatre 304 West 47th Street www.newsicalthemusical.net Circumcise Me Bleecker Street Theater 45 Bleecker Street www.circumcisemetheplay.com Perfect Crime Snapple Theater Center 210 West 50th Street www.perfect-crime.com Danny and Sylvia: The Danny Kaye Musical St. Luke’s Theatre 308 West 46th Street www.dannyandsylvia.com Smudge Julia Miles Theater 424 West 55th Street www.womensproject.org Dear Edwina Daryl Roth Theatre 15th Street and Union Square East www.dearedwina.com The Emperor Jones SoHo Playhouse 15 Vandam Street www.irishrep.org Ernest in Love Irish Repertory Theatre 132 West 22nd Street www.irishrep.org The Fantasticks Snapple Theater Center 210 West 50th Street www.fantasticksonbroadway.com Fuerza Bruta Daryl Roth Theater 15th Street and Union Square East www.lookupnyc.com Venus in Fur Classic Stage Company 136 East 13th Street www.classicstage.org Gazillion Bubble Show New World Stages 340 West 50th Street www.gazillionbubbleshow.com Zero Hour Theatre at St. Clement’s 423 West 46th Street www.zerohourshow.com

Related Posts:

• I Can Get It for You Wholesale

In the Fall you’ll be able to feast on all the goodness that is the Crown Point Festival: a three week multi-media arts event that incorporates Film, Theatre and Music happenings all over the Lower East Side.  But for now, just like when you do a tasting for your wedding, The CPF is having a Spring Sampler that will feature a little bit of this, a little bit of that … just enough to whet your appetite and get you excited for the big event in the Fall.

I hope to do a more in-depth interview in the upcoming months with Festival director Jesse Soursourian to get a real feel for what the Fall Crown Point Festival has in store, but for now I’ll be making my way to the Lower East Side on Tuesday, April 7th to get a taste of some of our city’s young, emerging talent.

Think that YOU’VE got what it takes to be in the festival and want to submit?  Then check out the FAQs and the Applications page for more information on that as well, and maybe the next great thing we’re checking out this Fall is YOU!

RSVP to get on the list for $20.00 tickets with jesse@crownpointfestival.org.  Entry at the door without RSVP is $25.00.  Must be 21 or older to enter.

Related Posts:

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• New Forms Of Something Different: A Review Of “Three Sisters Come And Go”
• Two Turns Adaptation Of Henry James’ Novella Successfully Merges Theatre & Philanthropy
• No I’m First! The Diary Of Anne Frankenstein Extended
• Eli and Cheryl Jump … Look After You (Fringe Festival 2009)

Gosh, it’s cold outside.  Like, tried-to-dial-my-cell-phone-so-took-off-my-glove-and-immediately-regretted-it-because-my-fingers-froze-into-a-claw type of cold.  But does it have to be frigid inside too?

According to this festival … yes it does!    With January ’09 having the sad distinction of being the month that saw the close of such long running hits as Hairspray, Spamalot and Spring Awakening, as well as other fine productions (such as All My Sons, Boeing-Boeing, Dividing The Estate, Grease, Gypsy, and Young Frankenstein), 2009 is already turning into a sorry year for Broadway.  But don’t let it get you down!  Go catch one or two or five of these great shows at any or all of these cozy theatres: The Kraine Theatre, The Red Room or Under St. Marks. (And yes, I used “cozy” euphemistically the way those people do when they’re trying to get you to rent their “cozy extra bedroom” … come on, folks it’s obviously a closet!).

FRIGID is around for 2 weeks starting February 25th so I again ask you to DVR LOST, put on your mufflers and your mittens, steel yourself with the Luden’s cough drop flavor of your choice (nothing’s more annoying than having to listen to that annoying chick two seats away dry-choke her way through the show.  Having been that annoying chick at three recent performances now, I can tell you — if spitballs were still popular with the over 4th grade set, my hair would have been littered with them)  and get your little butts out to see one of these great shows!

And don’t forget, this is a theatre festival … just like those street fairs where endless booths of home made soaps and funnel cakes and throw-the-dart-to-win-a-prize games hold secret joys you could never predict … that’s what this festival will do for your mind.  There’s Comedy at one theatre.  Drama at another.  Solo Shows.  Poetry.  Puppets.  WHAT?  Yes.  I said it.  PUPPETS.  Real live (but not alive) puppets.  And all tickets are between $8 and $15 dollars.  That’s less than three rings in the ring toss game.  (Because you know you need more than three rings if you’re gonna win, right?)  And what do you actually win anyway?  A Spongebob Squarepants doll?  A Stewie Griffin doll?  Something equally loseable-on-the-way-home-able?

But instead, for $8 – $15 dollars the Frigid Festival will give you all these words and thoughts and emotions and visuals.  And … you know, like I mentioned before … puppets.   Which are like dolls.   Only dolls that stay in the theatre and don’t get lost on the way home.  (Or, at least if they do, it’s not YOUR fault … it’s their own fault.  And that, my friends … is just a little creepy.)

Look at this.  Look at what you have to choose from.

Sorry.  That was probably a little too overwhelming.  Why don’t I give you a small sampler platter, a dainty dim sum platter, a  tiny tapas bar portion of what you could see some time in the next 2 weeks:

The Dysfunctional Guide to Home, Perfection, Marital Bliss, and Passionate Hot Romance
This “How To” piece will use a blend of vintage and original writings to teach you how to be the perfect housewife  (or househusband) – Dysfunctional style.

habeas corpus
“What would you like to be rid of?” Fueled by anonymous responses from all over the country as well as live audience responses within the theater itself, the real kim harmon performance collective creates a voracious and tender multi-media performance art experience.

Hysteri-Killy! A One Freak Show
A magical, multimedia march through the mad mind of a manic -depressive, cockeyed optimist.

The Expatriates-Liz Maher as Zelda Fitzgerald

The Expatriates
F. Scott, Zelda Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, and Ernest Hemingway are placed into a devilish purgatory to face their lives all over again. Flappers, booze, and jazz are the guides to untold wealth and unimaginable excess leading this fast paced show barreling towards certain destruction.

So, now … go grab your honey, or use this as an excuse to find a new honey … and go get Frigid.

Related Posts:

• Lickin’ With Bricken – An Interview With Bricken Sparacino
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Penny Pollak
• The Happiest Medium Is Partnering With FRIGID New York Festival 2011
• Following The Path Of Yoga
• Stinky Flowers, Sweet Thoughts

For those who know their Broadway Show history, I Can Get It for You Wholesale is the 1962 musical responsible for bringing a teen-aged Barbra Streisand to the New York stage; she not only debuted to critical acclaim, but she sang her way into a Tony Nomination as well for her role as Miss Marmelstein.  (For those who know their Karen Tortora [sans Lee] history, the Miss Marmelstein song was in very heavy rotation during the Spring/Summer season of Karen’s Basement Follies of 1982.  If I haven’t mentioned it before, I’m an only child who, alas, garnered no such critical acclaim).

In any case, today “I can get if for you wholesale” is more than just a link you can click while you’re reading your way through my column.  Today it’s also a very clever pun because I, I … can help get you a ticket to a Broadway (okay, off-Broadway) show for what will feel like wholesale.  And these days, that’s saying a lot.

To be truthful I had no hand in this … I’m simply the messenger.  But here I go … messengering away:  I bring you news of 20at20: Off-Broadway show all yours for the low, low price of only $20 bucks!  That’s twenty one-dollar bills!  When was the last time you could pay for anything with that kinda dough?

For just a little while longer – till February 8th, get your butt out of your chair, DVR that episode of LOST (come on, that’s why you HAVE the thing!) and go see some great shows. Here’s what you do (and watch for the pattern here):

1. TWENTY minutes before one of these shows starts go to the box office.Say “20 at 20“.
2. You can also say “Twenty @ Twenty” or “20 at Twenty“.  It works any of those ways because (Pay attention! The wand never leaves my hand) it all sounds the same when you say it out loud.
3. They give you a ticket to the show of your choice for twenty bucks.

Seriously.  No gimmick.  (Well, just this 20 @ 20 gimmick.)  No hidden fees.  No tricks.  Just lots of great theatre at NOT lots of money.  And not lousy shows that no one’s heard of either.  No – big, great wonderful shows that EVERYONE’S heard of like (in case you haven’t clicked the link I just inserted into this post twenty … no, make that twenty at twenty times) Fuerza Bruta (any one catch the episode of Next Top Model?)  and The Fantasticks and Naked Boys Singing! (I did not add that exclamation point, but if the marketing folks hadn’t I sure would have.  I mean, I sure would have!!)

So go.  Now.  Because the next show starts in twenty minutes!

See you Off-Broadway!

Related Posts:

• Stinky Flowers, Sweet Thoughts
• New Forms Of Something Different: A Review Of “Three Sisters Come And Go”
• Two Turns Adaptation Of Henry James’ Novella Successfully Merges Theatre & Philanthropy
• Twenty@Twenty Vision
• No I’m First! The Diary Of Anne Frankenstein Extended