L.A. Run of Jones' BRIDGE & TUNNEL Canceled

(What a damned disappointment! I really wanted to experience the show once again, if possible. I am lucky that I got to see it in NY, though)

from Playbill.com: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/111082.html

By Andrew Gans and Ennio Hernandez
16 Sep 2007

photo by: Brian Michael Thomas

The Los Angeles run of Sarah Jones' Bridge & Tunnel has been canceled, according to Variety.

Jones, who won a Special Tony Award in 2006 for her one-woman show Bridge & Tunnel, was scheduled to play 28 performances at the Brentwood Theatre, Sept. 25-Oct. 21. The trade paper reports that the engagement has been canceled because the show's national tour "failed to materialize"; the Brentwood Theatre was the tour's first destination.

Bridge & Tunnel originally played Off-Broadway beginning Feb. 6, 2004, at the 45 Bleecker Street Theatre. It opened Feb. 19 to positive critical and audience response. Actress Meryl Streep produced that run with The Culture Project, Allan Buchman, Robert Dragotta, Jayson Jackson, Michael Alden, Eric Falkenstein, Marcia Roberts and Tom Wirt Shafter. The solo show recouped its entire investment of $200,000 within seven weeks of the first preview performance.

The Broadway run at the Helen Hayes Theatre began previews Jan. 12, 2006, and opened Jan. 26. The show played 16 previews and 212 performances.

In Bridge & Tunnel, press notes state, "fourteen characters travel the roads of assimilation to tell the story of American change in an ever-changing America. Mohammed, a charismatic Pakistani accountant; Mrs. Ling, the Chinese mother adjusting to her daughter's alternative lifestyle and Nereida, a young Latina with a quick wit and an even faster tongue, are but a few of Jones's gallery of characters. This mix of voices emanates from the reaches of New York's boroughs with origins far beyond the city's limits."

In a previous statement writer and actress Jones said, "Whether we are women or men; older or younger; straight-laced or queer-eyed; whether we pray Saturday, Sunday, everyday or only at football games; whether we're born here or not; barely scraping by or more comfortable than most, we are all much more connected than any of us realize. By neighborhood, by circumstance, by chance and most importantly by our basic human dignity, we are all cosmically, and of course, often comically linked."

Sarah Jones penned and performed Waking the American Dream, Women Can't Wait and Surface Transit. The actress also appeared in the Spike Lee film "Bamboozled," Off-Broadway in Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues and in her own Bravo television special "The Sarah Jones Show." As a poet, Jones has performed on HBO's "Def Poetry Jam."

The Brentwood Theatre is located on the Veterans Administration grounds at 11301 Wilshire Boulevard in Brentwood, CA.

**
Alright...I'm off to an audition...

Sarah Jones' BRIDGE & TUNNEL

I saw BRIDGE & TUNNEL last year in April when I auditioned for The Public Theater's Shakespeare Lab in NY. Incredible show. Here's a bit of what I wrote a day after seeing the show:

The audience was truly diverse in race as well as age! It was awesome! I loved it. Sarah is amazing. How did she do it? She played several characters from a 6th grader to a senior citizen! From a Mexican to a Vietnamese. She wore all black and just added a coat, glasses, scarf, hat, chair, &c. for all her different people. That’s all. Damn! It was truly a great theatre experience. Two great theatre experiences in a row for me! Yeah! During the show, as with GREY GARDENS, I thought to myself, “I gotta get into The Shakespeare Lab. I gotta get in!” Ha! That woman is inspiring as is The Ebersole. Man! Such a great show. She’s talented, witty, funny, intelligent…I mean, EVERYTHING that I love about true artists. Honest. She’s an actress and a poet. Yes. The whole time I wanted to hear her real voice. What does Sarah Jones’ “real” voice sound like? After our standing ovation and her coming out twice, she spoke. In an English dialect! And then she said, “I don’t really speak like that,” and let us hear her true voice. HAHAHHAHHAHA! Very funny. She got us! Sarah also said that the show has extended to July 9th. Amazing! Wonderful for her.

Sarah Jones inhabited each and every person that she played. She truly did. She is a chameleon. A transformer. It was amazing to watch her go from the next person to the next like it was no sweat. It seemed so effortless. I cannot say enough. I wish they had a Bravo special on DVD or something. I read that she was the first artist to sue the FCC for censorship. They reversed the censoring rule which targeted her hip-hop recording of, “Your revolution,” with DJ Vadim. That is out on CD. Her show makes me think that that is what The Public Theater is all about. The “stew pot,” of America. The multi-racial layers. The richness, the acceptance, the hardships, honesty and integrity. The heartbreak and the joys. Being involved and standing up for each other. What a show.

Support this show when it comes to Brentwood, CA on September 25th. She'll be there until October 21st. Take my advice, you'll end up being devoted to me after you see the show. I guarantee. If not, well...there's something wrong with you. (Just jokes...)

So, who's goin' with me?

Playbill.com's article on BRIDGE & TUNNEL coming to CA: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/109639.html

To purchase tickets: http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/1142207/