Philip 'Sparkle' Markle brings his acclaimed queer variety show to midtown for a special WorldPride blowout.
Friday, June 21 at The Laurie Beechman Theatre
Welcome to the SPARKLE HOUR - a joyous variety show created and hosted by Philip 'Sparkle' Markle and featuring his favorite queer comedians -- including Matt Bellassai, Gus Constantellis, Ms. Golden Delicious, Jay Jurden and Tessa Skara -- for a very special PRIDE EDITION! Sparkle Hour has played sold-out stages all over NYC for the past four years - including twice at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater. Leave your cynicism at the door; we're bringing the whimsy back to the stage! SPARKLE HOUR: PRIDE EDITION will be presented Friday, June 21 at 9:30pm. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased at www.SpinCycleNYC.com, or by phone at 212-352-3101. The Laurie Beechman Theatre is located inside the West Bank Cafe at 407 West 42 Street (at 9th Ave.). Please note that there is a $20 food/beverage minimum at all performances at this venue, with a full bar and dinner menu available.
"Yes, this will get whimsical." - The New York Times
"In a comedy scene oversaturated with irony and cynicism, improv master Philip Markle invites you to indulge in blissful inanity at this absolutely batshit variety hour, featuring life-affirming wisdom from Markle, visceral humor from a crazed coterie of avant-garde performers and spectacular dance breaks." - Time Out New York
"Bolting through the audience and bounding on to the stage with the conviction of a tent revival evangelist, Philip Markle quickly wins over the audience with his enthusiasm. Mr. Markle brilliantly balances the glittery outrageousness of his performance style with amazing storytelling skill. Coming out of his shell with vim and vigor, Markle brings home the message of “Be yourself, love yourself” at the heart of Sparkle Hour! ” -NyTheatre.com
PHILIP MARKLE has performed and produced in hundreds of shows and taught students of acting and improv internationally, from Berlin to Bali. Philip graduated from Northwestern University and trained in improvisation in Chicago at The Annoyance, iO, and Second City. He moved to NYC in 2013 to launch the theatre and training center of The Annoyance Theater NY, where he acted as its Executive Director until Fall 2016. He is now the Founder and Artistic Director of The Brooklyn Comedy Collective, where he currently teaches and performs. Highlights include musically improvising with Baby Wants Candy in Chicago and BLANK: The Musical Off-Broadway in NY and his national-touring musical improv show Happy Karaoke Fun Time. As a storyteller, he has performed at The Moth and The Paper Machete and is a writer on Medium.com with 70k+ reads and has been published in Insider magazine. He is a proud member of the children’s education theatre companies The Story Pirates and Barrel of Monkeys. He executive produced, wrote, and acted in the digital shorts series "The Annoyance Presents" on IFC's Comedy Crib. Philip has written a one-man show, Sparkle Hour, which was featured to rave reviews in the 2013 NY International Fringe Festival. He regularly produces his monthly show Sparkle Hour, which first played at the historic Joe's Pub in June, 2018.
MATT BELLASSAI is a comedian, writer and personality known for his irreverent takes on the struggles of everyday life. He currently hosts the comedy variety podcast UNHAPPY HOUR and the web series TO BE HONEST. His first web series, BuzzFeed's WHINE ABOUT IT, garnered an average of 3.5 million weekly viewers. He is the winner of the first ever People's Choice Award for Favorite Social Media Star in 2016. His first essay collection, Everything Is Awful: And Other Observations, was published Fall 2017. He lives in New York City.
GUS CONSTANTELLIS is a first generation Greek-American stand up comedian/writer. He was born and raised in Brooklyn before it was cool and got his start in comedy when he won first place at a college talent show his first time trying standup. He is a gay comedian whose material deals heavily with his large immigrant family, his Greek heritage, raunchy yet relatable dating stories, his complicated love for New York City, and his observations about the gay community.
MS. GOLDEN DELICIOUS is New York City's Juiciest Drag Apple. After hitting the drag scene hot off her win of the Ultimate Drag Pageant in early 2017, Ms. Delicious has made her impact as a star on the rise in the NYC drag, comedy and cabaret scenes at venues like Feinstein’s/54 Below, Joe’s Pub, and Union Hall. Known for her wacky humor and incredibly loud catch phrase, "GOOD JOB!" the 7 foot tall farmer's daughter turned Glamazon performs weekly at her smash-hit "Glamarosa Drag Brunch" in Astoria Queens and in "DELISH! NYC's Tastiest Variety Show" at Bedlam in the East Village of Manhattan. Her debut One Woman Show, "Good Job!" will make its European Premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer.
JAY JURDEN is a rising NYC based comedian. He has been featured as a finalist for Stand Up NBC (2018) and a panelist for MTV News. He has also written articles for The New Yorker, Vulture Magazine, and Teen Vogue. Most recently he appeared in the 2019 Laughing Skull Comedy Festival. One of Time Out New York's 2019 "Comedians To Watch", his comedy smashes stereotypes and he has been described as "not a product of any one scene, Jurden kills with any crowd". This fall he continues his college comedy tour across the country. He is represented by APA agency and Seven Summits Management.
TESSA SKARA is a comedian, musician, and (in the words of her middle school bully Ashley) a weird bitch. Tessa's comedic performances have been featured at The Public Theater, Joe’s Pub, Union Hall, The Bell House, Littlefield, The Annoyance, The Brooklyn Comedy Festival, The New York Comedy Festival and every gay bar in Brooklyn. Her solo rock cabaret, Rock Goddess, was recently featured at Ars Nova and The Duplex. Tessa was a part of the musical sketch group Pop Roulette, with whom she was named one of Comedy Central's Comics to Watch in 2015, performed at sketch festivals around North America, and whose musical "Amazing Earth" ran for a year at UCBT Chelsea. You can see Tessa as a drunk girl in HBO's "Crashing," a coke head in the “The Detour” and hopefully a heroin addict in a feature film sometime soon. Tessa has a monthly musical comedy show called High Notes at Cloud City in Williamsburg.