October 22, 2013
Jinkx Monsoon Debuts at Provincetown's Art House Theatre
EDGE READ TIME: 3 MIN.
Jinkx Monsoon, the alter ego of Jerick Hoffer and season five winner of "RuPaul's Drag Race," will star in Off-Broadway's hit production "The Vaudevillians" at one of New England's most prestigious music and comedy venues summer of 2014.
Hosted by Provincetown's Art House Theatre, the drag-comedy sensation will reprise her role as Kitty Witless, alongside co-star and co-writer Richard Andriessen, better known as Dr. Dan von Dandy. Extended for the fifth time in New York, the show will leap to this popular Cape Cod summer destination from June 27 through Sept. 20, 2014. For tickets and information, please visit www.ptownarthouse.com, or call 1-800-838-3006.
The New York Times writes, "Straight or gay, everyone leaves this show with sides aching from laughter." Called "a pure delight" (The New York Times), "comedic genius" (Show Business Weekly), "hilarious" (BroadwayWorld), as well as "intelligent and entertaining" (TheaterMania), "The Vaudevillians" has amazed audiences since its inception. Even RuPaul proclaimed the performance "a triumph!"
Time-travelers from a century ago, the show's starring duo are 1920s performers who toured speakeasies and burlesque theatres. They have emerged from a deep freeze in Antarctica to present their act just as they did before they were caught in an avalanche and frozen alive. Now, Witless and the good doctor are on a quest to reclaim their music-songs like "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," about the suffragettes, and "Drop It Like It's Hot," about the invention of the electric iron.
A native of Portland, Oregon, Jerick Hoffer is a graduate of Cornish College in Seattle. It was at Cornish as a fifteen-year-old theater major that Hoffer traces the early manifestations of Jinkx Monsoon, whom he refers to as a "zany, off-the-wall, irreverent, gorgeous anachronism." In 2006, Hoffer made the Guinness World Records as lead dancer in the world's largest drag queen chorus line. By 2012, the young performer was starring at top Seattle theaters - Moritz in "Spring Awakening" (Balagan Theatre), Angel in "RENT" (The 5th Avenue Theatre), and most recently, Hedwig in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" with the Seattle Theatre Group.
Landing the hot production of "The Vaudevillians" was a coup for The Art House, but it is not out-of-character for the upstart company, which has built an international reputation for cutting-edge, live entertainment for gay and mainstream audiences. If there were a "how-to" written about transforming venues in popular travel destinations, it might be the story of Provincetown's Art House.
Since Producing Artistic Director Mark Cortale, along with his creative partner and music director Seth Rudetsky, launched their signature Broadway@ The Art House series in 2011, the theatre has become the talk not only of Provincetown, but also New York, and far beyond. The series now attracts notable names from Broadway and television, such as Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Chita Rivera, Sutton Foster, Megan Hilty, Megan Mullally, Christine Ebersole, and Jane Krakowski. This success spawned runs in New Orleans, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, The Poconos, Detroit - even overseas venues in Sydney, Melbourne, and London.
With the announcement of Jinkx Monsoon and "The Vaudevillians" joining The Art House lineup for summer 2014, this trailblazing venue remains true to its P-town roots, raising the bar on innovative entertainment.
Major Scales starring Jerick Hoffer & Richard Andriesson:
June 27, 28, and 29, 2014 at 9:00 p.m.
July 1 - Aug. 30, 2014 (Tuesday through Saturday) at 9:00 p.m.
Sept 4 - 20, 2014 (Thursday through Saturday) at 8:00 p.m.
The Art House
214 Commercial Street
Provincetown, Massachusetts 02657
Box office: 508.487.9222
Tickets and information: www.ptownarthouse.com or 800.838.3006