Drag icon bids farewell to the legendary venue where she premiered 30 acclaimed shows.
Sunday, August 18, 2024 at Laurie Beechman Theatre
“Amazingly witty, sarcastic, and bitchy... Ms. Beat’s wickedly morose humor has split the sides of many unsuspecting spectators, performing your favorite tunes in her own twisted way.” -- Village Voice
“A triple-shot barrage of twisted songs, barbed social commentary, and all-around bad taste” -- Staten Island Advance
"Hostile, lewd, and riotously funny" -- Time Out
JACKIE BEAT, the self-professed bastard child of "Weird" Al Yankovic and bawdy Bette Midler will premiere JACKIE BEAT: THE GOODBYE GURL at The Laurie Beechman Theatre (inside West Bank Cafe at 407 West 42nd Street -- at Ninth Avenue, accessible from the A,C,E,N,R,V,F,1,2,3 trains at 42nd Street). It will be presented Sunday, August 18 at 7 & 9:30pm. Tickets are $26 for general admission or $45 for VIP (which includes reserved seating and a meet and greet/photo op). Please note that there is also a $25 food/drink minimum. To purchase visit www.SpinCycleNYC.com.
JACKIE BEAT: THE GOODBYE GURLis sponsored by Mistr.
With THE GOODBYE GURL, Jackie Beat bids farewell to The Laurie Beechman Theatre at West Bank Cafe, which has announced that it will close in August after 46 years. Beat has premiered 30 acclaimed shows at the legendary venue including Alcoholidays, And the Beat Goes On, No Filter, Jerk in Progress and Menstrual Krampus. With THE GOODBYE GURL, Beat will take a look back at these acclaimed shows, offering up some of the best -- and worst -- of these performances.
West Bank Cafe opened on West 42nd Street in 1978 at a time when Hell’s Kitchen lived up to its name. Owner Steve Olsen opened The Laurie Beechman Theatre downstairs from the Cafe, which staged plays and hosted events nightly. A young Lewis Black was named playwright-in-residence; Howard Stern aired his third-annual live birthday broadcast from the theater; and the restaurant’s regulars included Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and Bruce Willis, among others. It has been a launching pad for countless Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Tony, and MAC Award-winning musicians, actors, comedians, and writers. The Beechman stage is where Joan Rivers performed her final set, where the original cast of Sunday in the Park With George rehearsed, where the Tony Award-winning play Side Man debuted, where Aaron Sorkin's first two works were produced, where The Who gave four live performances while their musical Tommy was debuting on Broadway, and where countless stars of RuPaul's Drag Race (including Jinkx Monsoon, Shangela, Alaska, Courtney Act, BenDeLaCreme, Trixie Mattel, Latrice Royale, and Alyssa Edwards) premiered shows. And where countless Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Tony, and MAC Award-winning artists have developed and performed new works.
Award-winning drag darling JACKIE BEAT has been wowing unsuspecting audiences since 1989. She has toured with Roseanne Barr -- as the comic legend’s opening act -- including a 7-week run at The New York New York in Las Vegas; written for TV (Fashion Police, Hello Ross, Hype! and others) and collaborated on special material with the like of Roseanne, Rosie O’Donnell and Jennifer Coolidge; appeared in countless TV shows (Sex and the City, Celebrity Family Feud, Huluween Dragstravaganza, Drag Me To Dinner and her own show on OUTtv, Dr. Jackie: Unlicensed Psychotherapist, featuring gay icons and allies Debbie Harry, Margaret Cho, Jane Lynch, Neil Patrick Harris, Parker Posey, Cecily Strong, Bridget Everett, Michelle Visage, Jane Wiedlin, Alec Mapa & more), movies (Grief, Wigstock The Movie, Flawless, Adam & Steve, Stage Mother and Chris Pine's Poolman) and Off-Broadway hits (Valley of the Dolls, Tell-Tale!). She has been named Best Drag Queen by New York Press and Best Live Performance by HX Magazine. Jackie is also a columnist, lead singer for the electro-rock band Dirty Sanchez, and the subject of the documentary film My Name is Jackie Beat including commentary from Joan Rivers, Margaret Cho, and Roseanne.