STAGE TUBE: Watch Ben Rimalower on 'YOU LIKE ME' to Prep for PATTI ISSUES and BAD WITH MONEY in California
By: Stage Tube Mar. 26, 2015
Before Ben Rimalower brings PATTI ISSUES and BAD WITH MONEY to LA, San Diego and San Francisco, check out his performance last month at the awards acceptance speech parody show, "You Like Me" at Joe's Pub, where he accepts Patti LuPone's 2008 Tony Award for GYPSY. Click below!
Rimalower's new play about spending beyond his means - and PATTI ISSUES, which ran for a year in New York and subsequently toured the country and abroad - will tour California this spring. Ben will appear in Los Angeles (March 29, Rockwell Table & Stage), San Diego (April 2, Martini's Above Fourth) and San Francisco (April 6 and 7, Oasis SF). In a recent four star review from Time Out New York, BAD WITH MONEY was hailed as "light, funny" and "vividly personal," as well as "courageously honest, keenly specific and emotionally naked" by The Advocate. PATTI ISSUES, which was a New York Times "Critics Pick," explores his obsession with Broadway diva Patti LuPone and his relationship with his troubled gay father. Both shows - written and performed by Ben Rimalower and directed by Aaron Mark - are currently running in New York at The Duplex in rep through April 29.
Ben's addiction has driven him to extreme lengths all his life. In BAD WITH MONEY he charts his sometimes hilarious, sometimes harrowing struggle to overcome his problem - or get rich trying. BAD WITH MONEY delves into deep personal territory with the story of his struggle with debt-a journey that takes him through drug addiction, prostitution, fraud and multiple betrayals. In this gripping play-by-play of some his biggest mistakes and their consequences, Rimalower offers a no-holds-barred self-portrait of an addict, and casts light on one of the last societal taboos. "People tend to be familiar now with alcohol and drug addiction-and I've got those too," the writer-performer says. "But spending money I don't have is really my drug of choice. And considering how many people suffer from the same problem, it's staggering how seldom it's discussed."
When Ben's debut play Patti Issues opened in 2012, it became a must-see show in the downtown theater scene, ultimately running for 14 months and garnering praise from attendees such as Alan Cumming, Tony Kushner, Michael Kors, Justin Vivian Bond, Perez Hilton and Ms. LuPone herself. Rimalower has performed Patti Issues in Australia, Germany and Great Britain, as well as across the country in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Miami Beach, Provincetown, Fire Island and more.
CA TOUR DATES/TICKETS:
LOS ANGELES
Rockwell Table & Stage - 1714 North Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027
PATTI ISSUES - Sunday, March 29 at 7:00 PM
BAD WITH MONEY - Sunday, March 29 at 8:30 PM
Tickets are $30 to $80, www.rockwell-la.com
SAN DIEGO
Martini's Above Fourth, 3940 Fourth Avenue, San Diego
BAD WITH MONEY - Thursday, April 2 at 8:00 PM
Tickets are $20 with a $15 minimum, www.martinisabovefourth.com
SAN FRANCISCO
Oasis - 298 11th Street at Folsom, San Francisco, CA 94103
PATTI ISSUES - Sunday, April 5 and Monday, April 6 at 7:00 PM
BAD WITH MONEY - Sunday, April 5 and Monday, April 6 at 8:30 PM
NOTE*: PATTI ISSUES will not be be performed in San Diego. More information is at www.BenRimalower.com. Follow Ben on Twitter @BenRimalower and visit www.facebook.com/BenRimalower.
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