Joey Arias
Encyclopedia
Joey Arias is a New York City based performance art
ist, cabaret singer, and drag
artist.
Born in Fayetteville, North Carolina
, he was six when he moved with his family to Los Angeles
. After singing with the rock band "Purlie
" on Capitol Records
and a stint with famed improvisational group the Groundlings. In 1976 he and his best friend Kim Hastreiter - who would go on to co-found - Paper (magazine)
- drove across country in a pickup truck and moved to New York City. Arias eventually got a job at the Fiorucci
designer clothing store. He and other store staff famously performed (danced & modeled clothes) in the shop windows. While working at the store he became friends with alternative icon Klaus Nomi
, singing backup and designing sets and costumes. On December 4, 1979, Nomi and Arias appeared on Saturday Night Live
accompanied David Bowie
for a live performance of TVC 15
. While in New York he also performed with Ann Magnuson
in a band called Strange Party which recorded and performed in various night clubs. Upon the death of his dear friend and artistic collaborator, Joey became executor to the Klaus Nomi (Sperber) estate. A tribute to his friend is held in Berlin every year, and the documentary film "The Nomi Song" was released in 2004. A film on the life Arias shared with Klaus is currently in development with Alan Cumming slated to play Nomi.
Arias, who is openly
gay
, gradually became involved in the burgeoning 1980s New York performance art
scene, appearing regularly at Club 57
and other downtown venues. During these years he also began crafting a successful career in cabaret, based on his talent for channeling the vocal style and mannerisms of the legendary Billie Holiday
. In the early 1990s Arias covered the songs of Lady Day in a show called "Strange Fruit" which ran for over a year at the Astor Theater on Lafayette Street in New York City and received a glowing notice from John Lahr
in The New Yorker
.
The 90's also saw Arias hold court as the star of weekly shows at Bar d'O, an intimate lounge in the West Village of New York City. With co-stars Sherry Vine and Raven-O, Arias inspired a legion of devoted fans with 3 shows a week over the span of a decade. Regular guest performers at Bar d'O included Sade Pendarvis, Daniel Isengart and Flotilla Debarge. The famed evenings have inspired annual reunion shows each December at Indochine restaurant and became the subject of a 2011 documentary film produced by Bobby Sheehan.
In 2003 Arias moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to star as the Mistress of Seduction in Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity
the New York-New York Hotel & Casino
. In addition to starring in the show, he co-wrote 2 of the shows songs. After starring in the show for 6 years, Arias returned to New York where he starred in Arias with a Twist
, a collaboration with master puppeteer Basil Twist
at HERE Arts Center
. Produced by Barbara Busackino and Tandem Otter Productions, the show received a rave review from Ben Brantley in the New York Times and played to sold out houses for 6 months. The show has since toured to Los Angeles and Paris and spawned a "docufantasy" film of the same name which premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival in 2010. "Arias with a Twist: Deluxe," a revamped and expanded version of the show returns to New York for a limited run at Abrons Arts Center
from September 14 to October 16, 2011.
Arias' relationship with Abrons began in October 2010 when "Joey Arias in Concert" marked Arias' first concert appearances in New York in over a decade. Presented by Earl Dax and music directed by Ben Allison
, the shows filled the 300-seat Abrons theater to capacity at each performance prompting the addition of an added late night performance. Based on the success of the show, Dax collaborated with Josh Wood
who produced Arias in concert at New York's legendary Town Hall on April 21, 2010.
Arias is also notable for his portrayal of Joan Crawford
in New York and San Francisco productions of Christmas with the Crawfords, an original holiday spoof of Christina Crawford
's book Mommie Dearest
. The San Francisco based production premiered Off-Off-Broadway
at the Grove Street Playhouse in 2000 starring Arias as Joan. Arias also starred in a 2001 revival of the play at the Chelsea Playhouse.
Film credits include Big Top Pee-wee
, Mondo New York
, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Flawless, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
and Wigstock: The Movie
.
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
ist, cabaret singer, and drag
Drag (clothing)
Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...
artist.
Born in Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville is a city located in Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of Cumberland County, and is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a U.S. Army post located northwest of the city....
, he was six when he moved with his family to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. After singing with the rock band "Purlie
Purlie
Purlie is a musical with a book by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose, and Peter Udell, lyrics by Udell, and music by Gary Geld. It is based on Davis' 1961 play Purlie Victorious, which was later made into the 1963 film Gone Are the Days! and which included all of the original Broadway cast, including Ruby...
" on Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
and a stint with famed improvisational group the Groundlings. In 1976 he and his best friend Kim Hastreiter - who would go on to co-found - Paper (magazine)
Paper (magazine)
Paper magazine is a New York City–based independent magazine covering and discovering cultural movements with a focus on fashion, design, pop-culture, nightlife, music, art and film. The magazine covers trends, new creative talent, urban American lifestyle as well as international lifestyles and...
- drove across country in a pickup truck and moved to New York City. Arias eventually got a job at the Fiorucci
Fiorucci
Fiorucci is an Italian fashion label founded by Elio Fiorucci in 1967. The first shop exposed Milan to the styles of Swinging London and American classics such as the T-shirt and jeans. By the late 1970s and early 1980s this would be reversed, and the New York store would become famous for the...
designer clothing store. He and other store staff famously performed (danced & modeled clothes) in the shop windows. While working at the store he became friends with alternative icon Klaus Nomi
Klaus Nomi
Klaus Sperber , better known as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor noted for his wide vocal range and an unusual, otherworldly stage persona....
, singing backup and designing sets and costumes. On December 4, 1979, Nomi and Arias appeared on Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
accompanied David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
for a live performance of TVC 15
TVC 15
"TVC 15" is a song written and recorded by David Bowie and released in 1976.The track was inspired by an episode in which Iggy Pop, during a drug-fuelled period at Bowie’s LA home, hallucinated and believed the television set was swallowing his girlfriend. Bowie developed a story of a holographic...
. While in New York he also performed with Ann Magnuson
Ann Magnuson
Ann Magnuson is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer who first gained prominence in the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan...
in a band called Strange Party which recorded and performed in various night clubs. Upon the death of his dear friend and artistic collaborator, Joey became executor to the Klaus Nomi (Sperber) estate. A tribute to his friend is held in Berlin every year, and the documentary film "The Nomi Song" was released in 2004. A film on the life Arias shared with Klaus is currently in development with Alan Cumming slated to play Nomi.
Arias, who is openly
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, gradually became involved in the burgeoning 1980s New York performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
scene, appearing regularly at Club 57
Club 57
Club 57 was a nightclub located at 57 St. Mark's Place in the East Village, New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s. It was a hangout and venue for performance- and visual-artists and musicians, including Madonna, Keith Haring, Cyndi Lauper, Charles Busch, Klaus Nomi, The B-52s, Futura...
and other downtown venues. During these years he also began crafting a successful career in cabaret, based on his talent for channeling the vocal style and mannerisms of the legendary Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
. In the early 1990s Arias covered the songs of Lady Day in a show called "Strange Fruit" which ran for over a year at the Astor Theater on Lafayette Street in New York City and received a glowing notice from John Lahr
John Lahr
John Lahr is an American theater critic, and the son of actor Bert Lahr. Since 1992, he has been the senior drama critic at The New Yorker magazine.-Biography:...
in The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
.
The 90's also saw Arias hold court as the star of weekly shows at Bar d'O, an intimate lounge in the West Village of New York City. With co-stars Sherry Vine and Raven-O, Arias inspired a legion of devoted fans with 3 shows a week over the span of a decade. Regular guest performers at Bar d'O included Sade Pendarvis, Daniel Isengart and Flotilla Debarge. The famed evenings have inspired annual reunion shows each December at Indochine restaurant and became the subject of a 2011 documentary film produced by Bobby Sheehan.
In 2003 Arias moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to star as the Mistress of Seduction in Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity
Zumanity
Zumanity is a resident cabaret-style show by Cirque du Soleil at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The production was unveiled on September 20, 2003. It is the first "adult-themed" Cirque du Soleil show, billed as "the sensual side of Cirque du Soleil" or "another side...
the New York-New York Hotel & Casino
New York-New York Hotel & Casino
New York-New York Hotel & Casino is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip at 3790 Las Vegas Boulevard South, in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by MGM Resorts International.-Description:...
. In addition to starring in the show, he co-wrote 2 of the shows songs. After starring in the show for 6 years, Arias returned to New York where he starred in Arias with a Twist
Arias with a Twist
Arias with a Twist is a collaborative play created by drag queen Joey Arias and puppeteer Basil Twist. It premiered on June 12, 2008 at the HERE Arts Center in the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre...
, a collaboration with master puppeteer Basil Twist
Basil Twist
Basil Twist is a New York City-based puppeteer who is best known for his underwater puppet show, "Symphonie Fantastique".-Life and work:Originally from San Francisco, Basil Twist is a third generation puppeteer. He graduated from the École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette in...
at HERE Arts Center
HERE Arts Center
HERE Arts Center is a New York City based off-off broadway presenting house, founded in 1993, with two stages specializing in hybrid performance, dance, theater, multi-media and puppetry. From 1993-2009, HERE supported over 12,000 artists and served approximately 950,000 audience members...
. Produced by Barbara Busackino and Tandem Otter Productions, the show received a rave review from Ben Brantley in the New York Times and played to sold out houses for 6 months. The show has since toured to Los Angeles and Paris and spawned a "docufantasy" film of the same name which premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival in 2010. "Arias with a Twist: Deluxe," a revamped and expanded version of the show returns to New York for a limited run at Abrons Arts Center
Abrons Arts Center
The Abrons Arts Center is the performing and visual arts program of Henry Street Settlement. It mounts exhibitions and productions in music, dance and theater and provides arts training for children and adults....
from September 14 to October 16, 2011.
Arias' relationship with Abrons began in October 2010 when "Joey Arias in Concert" marked Arias' first concert appearances in New York in over a decade. Presented by Earl Dax and music directed by Ben Allison
Ben Allison
Ben Allison is an American jazz double bassist and composer born in New Haven, Connecticut.His groups include The Ben Allison Band, Peace Pipe, the Ben Allison Quartet, Medicine Wheel, the Kush Trio, Man Size Safe, and the Herbie Nichols Project...
, the shows filled the 300-seat Abrons theater to capacity at each performance prompting the addition of an added late night performance. Based on the success of the show, Dax collaborated with Josh Wood
Josh Wood
Josh Wood is a producer and promoter of concerts, theatrical events, gala dinners and political happenings.-Recent Events:On the forth and fifth anniversary of the Iraq War, Josh Wood produced Speak Up!, a series of peace concerts featuring Michael Stipe, Scissor Sisters , Rufus Wainright, Moby,...
who produced Arias in concert at New York's legendary Town Hall on April 21, 2010.
Arias is also notable for his portrayal of Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
in New York and San Francisco productions of Christmas with the Crawfords, an original holiday spoof of Christina Crawford
Christina Crawford
Christina Crawford is an American writer and actress, best known as the author of Mommie Dearest, an exposé of alleged child abuse by her mother, actress Joan Crawford.-Early life and education:...
's book Mommie Dearest
Mommie Dearest
Mommie Dearest is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of actress Joan Crawford. The book, which depicts Christina's childhood and her relationship with her mother, was published in 1978.-Christina Crawford's claims:...
. The San Francisco based production premiered Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway
Off-Off-Broadway theatrical productions in New York City are those in theatres that are smaller than Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. Off-Off-Broadway theaters are often defined as theaters that have fewer than 100 seats, though the term can be used for any show in the New York City area that...
at the Grove Street Playhouse in 2000 starring Arias as Joan. Arias also starred in a 2001 revival of the play at the Chelsea Playhouse.
Film credits include Big Top Pee-wee
Big Top Pee-wee
Big Top Pee-wee is the 1988 American family comedy sequel to the 1985 film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and stars Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman, Penelope Ann Miller, Valeria Golino, and Kris Kristofferson. The original music score is composed by Danny Elfman. The film is marketed with the tagline...
, Mondo New York
Mondo New York
Mondo New York is a 1988 Mondo film directed by Harvey Nikolai Keith.-Overview:Mondo New York examines the lives and activities of Manhattan performance artists, and features Joey Arias and Rick Aviles. A number of New York City denizens appear in various sketches, each linked by a young woman's...
, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Flawless, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar is a 1995 American comedy film, starring Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo as three New York drag queens who embark on a road trip...
and Wigstock: The Movie
Wigstock: The Movie
Wigstock: The Movie is a 1995 documentary film focusing on Wigstock, the annual drag music festival that had been held New York City's East Village through the 1980s and 1990s. The film presents a number of performances from the 1994 festival, including Crystal Waters, Deee-Lite, Jackie Beat,...
.