A comedic legend will be telling tales in New Hope this holiday weekend.
And, with decades of showbiz experience, he has plenty of funny fodder.
The Emmy-winning Bruce Vilanch has starred in hit Broadway plays, written jokes for televised awards shows, been a Hollywood Square and rubbed elbows with countless A-list stars and gay icons. His audience at Cock ’n Bull can expect entertaining anecdotes — if not celebrity dirt.
“It’s a lot of storytelling and stuff about my ridiculous career and a lot of backstage stuff about people they know,” said the out Vilanch. “It’s not Kathy Griffin dishing. I don’t want to give people the wrong impression. It’s stories about show business and fun. I tell the stories I couldn’t tell any place else except the Cock ’n Bull.”
(Yeah, we know … There’s a delightfully rude, pun-soaked zinger about the venue name in there but — nope! — too easy.)
Despite the challenging political atmosphere, Vilanch isn’t aiming for world-changing commentary onstage.
“Nothing seems funny today. The mood is just so insane right now,” he said, adding that political commentary isn’t his thing — but he has no issue with other performers taking such positions. “If they feel strongly about it and that’s what they want their persona to be, they should go that way. It’s not necessarily what I feel my persona is.”
For years, Vilanch has written monologues and jokes for award-show hosts, including those hosting the Oscars — already a complex genre to navigate, and further complicated by Hollywood using the platform to take jabs at the political establishment.
“It’s always been difficult because you are playing to an audience that may not be familiar with the awards being presented or anything like that,” he said. “That’s always the problem with awards shows. It’s presented by an industry organization, so it’s a jury of their peers. It’s different than the People’s Choice Awards. Since the new administration has come in, awards shows have become a target where political things are said because people are feeling helpless and they have to say these things.”
Meanwhile, the dynamic writer and performer continues to work magic behind and in front of the curtain. His newest project is a stage musical called “A Sign of the Times,” based on his eponymous book. The Delaware Theater Company will perform it next month before it debuts on Broadway.
“We start previews Nov. 28. Think ‘Mamma Mia!’ Please, think ‘Mamma Mia.’ Don’t think ‘Mamma Mia 2,’ necessarily. It’s an original book with all these songs from 1965 applied to it. I didn’t know how it would work but when we saw it with an audience, it all came together.”
Vilanch described the show as entertaining but with a timely message of liberation at its heart.
“All musicals are escapist entertainment. But this particular play is a story about female empowerment. It’s about a girl who goes from Columbus, Ohio, to New York in 1965 into the world of ‘Mad Men.’ By the end of the show, she’s one of the early feminists and it’s about her adventures in New York during that period. At the same time, it’s a lot of fun because the music is so theatrical, up and bubbly.”
Bruce Vilanch performs 8:30 p.m. Nov. 24 at Cock ’n Bull Restaurant in Peddler’s Village, 5800 Upper York Road, Lahaska. For more information or tickets, call 888-596-1027 or visit www.peddlersvillage.com.