Celebrated drag performer, actor and playwright Charles Busch returns to Off-Broadway with his latest work, Shanghai Moon . The play, which also stars Busch and is directed by Carl Andress, begins performances Jan. 20, 1999 at Theatre for the New City. It will run through Feb. 14, 1999.
No opening night is being set because Busch considers the piece a work in progress and doesn't anticipate bringing in press until the show reaches its next phase, according to a spokesperson at Keith Sherman Associates.
Shanghai Moon is only the latest playwriting effort by Busch, who first made his name as a performer in such camp spoofs as Vampire Lesbians of Sodom , The Lady in Question and Red Scare at Sunset. After last year's ambitious but poorly-received Queen Amarantha, Shanghai marks Busch's return to that sort of outlandish material. A parody of 1930's movie melodramas such as "Shanghai Express," the play is about Lady Sylvia Allington, the glamorous wife of a British diplomat. Sylvia sets off international fireworks when she takes up with a Chinese warlord.
The cast features Sekiya Billman, Becky London, Jodie Lynne McClintock, Marcy McGuigan and James Saito.
Other Busch works include Queen Amarantha staged at the WPA Theatre, and the musical The Green Heart at Manhattan Theatre Club. For information, call (212) 254-1109.
-- By Robert Simonson