Queer immersive theater experience, A Gaga Guide to the Lower East Side is back!
With the weather gradually getting warmer, save the dates March 28 – June 9, 2024 for your ultimate Gaga-themed walking tour.
After an acclaimed 7-month run last year, Spin Cycle presents the return of A Gaga Guide to the Lower East Side, a unique immersive theater experience that blends actual historical walking tour, theatrical character monologue and current celebrity worship culture. Performances begin on Lady Gaga’s birthday, March 28.
“Deliriously off the rails… offers a fascinating insight into the pop star’s humble beginnings, as well as the neighborhood’s evolution.” – Patrick Ryan, USA Today.
This walking tour of the Lower East Side emphasizes the exploits of his favorite pop star and downtown denizen Lady Gaga. For months, the former reality TV “star” has been faithfully guiding inquisitive minds past the boyhood home of George and Ira Gershwin, to the sites of former Yiddish theaters and delis, and through Instagrammable graffiti strewn parks, right to the birthplace of Mother Monster. But a Yelp review has set off a chain reaction that threatens to take today’s tour in a totally unexpected direction.
A Gaga Guide to the Lower East Side returns with a special performance on Thursday, March 28 at 6pm, followed by regular performances March 28 – June 9, Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm. It stars Taylor Hilliard and Lynwood McLeod, rotating in the role of Phill. Written by Ron Lasko, it is directed by Zack Carey featuring stage management by Chip Duckett and costumes by Robert Kent.
The audience meet-up point is 1 Extra Place (New York NY 10003), between Bowery & 2nd Avenue. Running time is 95 minutes. The tour covers approximately 14 blocks, so please wear comfortable shoes. Please note that performances will be cancelled for inclement weather (heavy rain, lightning, or days above 90 degrees or below 32 degrees) and refunds will be issued.
Tickets are $30 at www.SpinCycleNYC.com.
About the team
Ron Lasko has served as publicist for artists and venues including BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Serious Fun! at Lincoln Center, The New York International Fringe Festival, Anne Bogart, Richard Foreman, Philip Glass, Spalding Gray, John Leguizamo, Martha Graham Dance, Foundry Theatre, Bedlam, the cell, Third Rail Projects, The Flea, Karen Finley, Kiki & Herb, Ars Nova, Dutch Kills, The Civilians, Partial Comfort, Amerinda, National Black Theater, Elevator Repair Service, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Baruch Performing Arts Center, and countless performances by the stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race (including Jinkx Monsoon, Courtney Act, Latrice Royale, Shangela, Alaska, Trixie Mattel and BenDeLaCreme). He is the co-founder of Spin Cycle, a PR, marketing and event production company. As a theater critic, his reviews have appeared in Next, HX and Broadway.com. This is his first produced play.
Zack Carey’s directing credits include the immersive theater hit Bleach, which ran for 125 performances in 2019, Boylesque (starring RuPaul’s Drag Race star Mimi Imfurst) at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, The Other Me at FringeNYC, and Club Nights at HERE. Regional credits include the Ohio premieres of Wallace Shawn’s The Fever and Keith Curran’s Walking the Dead.
Taylor Hilliard‘s credits include Beadle Bamford in Sweeney Todd (Longwood Players), Ruckley in Cuckoo’s Nest (Theater UnCorked), and The Man in Marry Me A Little (NextDoor Theater). He trained at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. www.taylorhilliard.com.
Lynwood McLeod is a music education graduate of The College of Wooster where they began their professional career as a resident young artist in the Ohio Light Opera. Recent credits include Anita Martini in The Housewives of Secaucus (Off-Broadway), Larry Fanazzi in My Big Gay Italian Midlife Crisis (regional) and serving as dance captain to the The Rose Room’s Late Night Circus: Craven (London premiere). Lynwood also performs in nightlife entertainment as the drag persona Shirley U. Jest.
About Spin Cycle
Since its founding in 1998 on the Lower East Side, Spin Cycle has co-produced shows by artists including Joan Rivers, Anthony Rapp, Gavin Creel, Holly Woodlawn, Alison Arngrim, Alec Mapa, Karen Finley, and Ain Gordon. Other producing credits include Kiki & Herb’s Obie winning Jesus Wept, The Vaudevillians starring Jinkx Monsoon, Fruma-Sarah starring Jackie Hoffman, the World Premiere of The Donkey Show, Bleach, John Kelly’s Paved Paradise, the Rochester premiere of Woman Before A Glass (directed by Austin Pendleton) and Jacob Storms’ Tennessee Rising (directed by Alan Cumming). Current and recent theater PR clients include: 21 seasons with New York International Fringe Festival, 20 seasons with The Flea Theater (including premieres by A.R Gurney, Elizabeth Swados, Will Eno, Christopher Durang, Adam Rapp, Thomas Bradshaw and Mac Wellman) and 7 years with P.S. 122 (including premieres by Spalding Gray, John Leguizamo, Elevator Repair Service, and Eric Bogosian), the long-running immersive hit Then She Fell, and theater companies including Partial Comfort, The Civilians, Bedlam, SITI Company, Pig Iron, 3LD, Bated Breath, Ars Nova, New Georges, Dutch Kills, The Culture Project, the cell, National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, and Theater Breaking Through Barriers.
