British comedian Eddie Izzard, who's brought his popular London show to Off-Off-Broadway's P.S. 122 space, will play an extra engagement Saturday, Oct. 19, at Webster Hall (on East 11th Street in Manhattan).
The gig, a benefit for P.S. 122, comes in response to heavy audience demand for Izzard's self-titled show.
Izzard ended up giving an extra, 10:45 PM performance this past weekend in PS 122's 300-seat upstairs space --as opposed to the 110-seat downstairs venue where the show, already sold out, currently runs.
In his review for the New York Times (Sept. 30), Neil Strauss wrote, "[Izzard's] routines on different subjects tended to spiral into one another and meet at different tangents, so that he could set up running jokes... He began each routine with a mundane subject and embellished, abstracted and analyzed it until it evolved into a surreal fantasy. By sticking to topics most Americans and Europeans have in common...he minimized the gulf."
Strauss continued, "Wearing lipstick, eyeshadow, green nails and a leopard-patterned shirt, Mr. Izzard described himself as a transvestite but never turned his make-up wearing into a gimmick or material for a routine. Instead, using no props, he filled the stage with all kinds of bizarre pantomimed characters." The New York Post's Clive Barnes was even more complimentary: "He uses a few naughty words, but otherwise his humor is almost family-oriented, with not a touch of raunch to his rambling but extraordinarily clever and amusing material... Izzard could prove caviar to the general public, but I suspect that he has it in him to reach a wider American audience than most of his British contemporaries, just as long as he can isolate exactly where that audience lies. PS 122 is a step in the right direction.
Izzard, who was the subject of a prominent feature story in the New York Times (in an interview with English comedienne, Ruby Wax), can't stay in New York past the show's closing date of Oct. 20.
Press representative Jackie Green said it was unlikely Izzard could squeeze in futher large-venue gigs, since the Webster Hall engagement happens the day before his show's supposed to close.
For tickets and information on Eddie Izzard, call Ticketmaster at (212) 307-7171.
-- By David Lefkowitz
