Sandra Bernhard, the iconoclastic comedy diva, is throwing caution to the wind on New Year's Eve in New York City, the night when even Broadway producers aren't tempting millennial fate.
Broadway shows may be shut down due to the expected record crowds in midtown Manhattan, but Bernhard's $125-$175 appearance at Town Hall on 43rd Street, in 2001: A Sandra Odyssey, will be aglow just a block from an engorged Times Square.
From the comedian who gave us I'm Still Here...Damn It!on Broadway last season, the New Year's show is billed as a retrospective with new material. Do not expect sentiment or "Auld Lang Syne," according a statement.
Doors opens 8:30 PM, the "odyssey" begins at 10 PM.
Town Hall is at 123 W. 43rd Street. Access to Town Hall in the log jammed area is available via 43rd Street and Sixth Avenue (where there will be a security post). Ticket-holders will show their tickets for 2001: A Sandra Odyssey to be allowed access to the theatre. Bernhard's I'm Still Here...Damn It! first played Off-Broadway at the Westbeth Theatre and later on Broadway at the Booth. Her previous New York appearance was in the long-running, one-woman show, Without You I’m Nothing, which became a Grammy-nominated recording (Best Comedy Record) and a film. Her other film credits include "King of Comedy," "Hudson Hawk" and Nicholas Roeg's "Track 29," as well as the independent films, "Somewhere in the City" and "Lover Girl."
On television, Bernhard was Nancy on "Roseanne," guest-starred in "Ally McBeal," starred in her own HBO special, "Sandra After Dark," appeared in her own Cinemax special, "Your New American Actress Friend," hosted Comedy Central’s "The A List" and Fox's "Mad TV" and guested on "The Larry Sanders Show," "Tales From the Crypt" and "Chicago Hope."
Bernhard will be seen this season on the acclaimed HBO series "The Sopranos."
Bernhard is the author of three books, "Confessions of a Pretty Lady" (Harper & Row), "Love, Love, And Love" (Harper Collins) and "May I Kiss You On The Lips, Miss Sandra?" (Rob Weisback Books/William Morrow Publishing), which are collections of stories and essays.
For information about her Town Hall appearance, Town Hall at (212) 840 2824, or for tickets call Ticketmaster at (212) 307-4100.
-- By Kenneth Jones