While John Leguizamo's one-man work, Sexaholix... a love story closed on Broadway Feb. 10, the show is still very alive. The show plays two more performances, Feb. 22-23, to be taped live for HBO at the just under 3000-seat Beacon Theatre — where the solo artist stopped last summer when developing the show.
The performance will debut on HBO April 13. The show is adapted for the small screen under the direction of Marty Callner. All three of Leguizamo's previous solo efforts aired on HBO and won CableACE awards.
Production spokesperson Bill Evans also confirmed that the show "will play sometime during the summer" at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago. No dates have been set.
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After spending the summer making his return to the live stage with a short national tour of a solo show titled John Leguizamo Live — an RCA recording of the show is available on CD — the piece, produced by Robin Tate, developed into Sexaholix... a love story. The show began previews on Broadway Oct. 9 and opened Nov. 4. The production extended twice before finally closing Feb. 10. Director Peter Askin, who helmed Leguizamo's Mambo Mouth and Spic-O Rama reteamed with the actor for this, his fourth and final solo venture as Leguizamo told Playbill On-Line, "I think that's it. They're fun and I love them but I want to leave at the top of my game." (To read the full interview with John Leguizamo, click Playbill On-Line's Brief Encounter feature.)
As in his earlier award-winning one-man performances, Leguizamo employed an "in your face" comedic style, covering in his words "relationships: dating, trying to 'get some', breaking up, break-up sex, make-up sex, marriage, divorce," and other topics including Latino history, childhood, family, and finally fatherhood, referencing his own experiences and relatives.
The Colombian chameleon who first caught the eyes of the theatre world with his one man show Mambo Mouth — which won him an Obie and an Outer Critics Circle Award — later took the Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance for his Spic O-Rama. His most recent stage work, Freak: A Semi-Demi-Quasi Pseudo Autobiography, garnered him a Tony nomination.
Also a viable film star, moviegoers may remember Leguizamo from recently as Toulouse Lautrec in Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge," in "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" in drag as Miss Chi-Chi Rodriguez or in Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet" as a Virgin Mary-gun toting Tybalt. His biggest role came in the 1999 Spike Lee joint "The Summer of Sam."
For tickets to the HBO live taping of Sexaholix at the Beacon Theatre, 2124 Broadway (at 74th Street), call (212) 307-7171 or visit www.ticketmaster.com. For both performances, the doors will open at 7 PM and close at 8PM.
