Urie Reads Celebrity Autobiography in London
As previously tipped, Edinburgh Fringe hit Celebrity Autobiography will transfer to London, with American TV star Michael Urie (of Ugly Betty fame) returning to the production for its London debut week at Leicester Square Theatre from 4 to 9 October 2010.
Urie will be joined by the show’s US creators and original cast members, Drama Desk winners Eugene Pack and Dayle Reyfel, as well as a “first-rate comedic ensemble”. After its opening week, Celebrity Autobiography will continue at Leicester Square, running every second Monday only until 10 January 2011.
In Celebrity Autobiography, actors and comedians (celebrities themselves) read excerpts from real autobiographies, chosen for their incredibly vacuous, melodramatic, egotistical or just plain outrageous nature. Jordan, Peter Andrew, David Hasselhoff, Tiger Woods, Sylvester Stallone, Mr T, Miley Cyrus and Elizabeth Taylor are amongst those whose memoirs are shared.
The for Celebrity Autobiography idea started as a cable TV one-off special in 2005, then spun off as a stage show in Los Angeles and New York, where it’s proved a long-running hit, selling out for three years.
In Edinburgh, Urie and fellow American George Wendt (Cheers) were joined by the likes of Caroline Rhea, Jennifer Coolidge, Mike McShane, James Lance, Phill Jupitus and Rufus Hound. “Celebrity book club” readers in the US, where Uhrie is a regular participant, have included Brooke Shields, Matthew Broderick and Alan Cumming.
Heroin(e) for Breakfast, a Fringe First winner at the 2009 Edinburgh festival, will also launch a London season next month, running at Croydon Warehouse from 8 to 31 October 2010. The new play by Philip Stokes, who also directs, is about the seductive, destructive charms of heroin, personified by a Marilyn Monroe-like character called Heroin(e), who enters the lives of three young flatmates.
And yet another Edinburgh hit, cabaret trio Fascinating Aida’s latest offering, presented during the festival at the Assembly Rooms to celebrate the venue’s 30th anniversary, will have a three-week London stint at The Pheasantry in Chelsea from 5 to 23 October 2010. Fascinating Aida are Dillie Keane, Adele Anderson and Liza Pulman.
