Restaged and revived from summer’s hit symphonic rock ballet production.

You arrive to New York City, your eyes are bright and your heart is young. You step outside of the train staton and are immediately crushed by the buildings, suffocated by the noise and swept up by the crowds. Panic swells up in your chest – you are utterly alone in a city of 8 million. You have no choice, you breathe it all in.

You trade comfort for chaos. You take unimaginable risks in the name of adventure. What was insane back home is now the norm. You let yourself fall irreversibly in love. You lock lips with the city and it tastes like a familiar poison. You commit to your addiction, letting it destroy everything you thought you were. One day you wake up and realize that you’re home. You have paid your dues and you finally belong in the city built for the fearless, the beautiful and the ambitious.

Set to the epic, sweeping tones of the 20-member This Ambitious Orchestra, Lady Circus flies through the air and dances across your table, swept up in a story that is all too familiar to those who fought to be here.

Starring:
Kathryn Van Assche, Kae Burke, Lisa Dispigno, Benjamin Ickies, Ashley Perez, Anya Sapozhnikova, Eric Schmalenberger and Jeff Young

Directed by Anya Sapozhnikova
Music by Benjamin Ickies & This Ambitious Orchestra
Choreography by Kathryne Van Assche

Two performances on Friday, January 20, 2012. See the Events Page for details, or click here to purchase tickets.

This Ambitious Orchestra’s performance at the Halloween Oh! You Pretty Things reinterpreted the classic musical and film Cabaret as a glam rock stage revue, complete with dancing showgirls courtesy of Lady Circus. Photos by Jonathan McPhail.

SCENE + HEARD: Benjamin Ickies Says Freddie Mercury Saved Him From The Influence Of R&B, At Oh! You Pretty Things’ Queen Tribute

Warm fuzzy quote: “Freddie Mercury was alive once more within the walls of Le Poisson Rouge”

Correction: Benjamin is a proud Brooklynite and hasn’t lived in the Heights for nine years, though the thing about reggaeton is totally true.

While on the other side of the pond Prince Harry was enjoying his first night as a married man, Martin White, leader of our London-based sister band The Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra, performed his song ‘Thank You For Not Discussing the Outside World’. In his own words: “a song about apathy.” Recorded live at Sullivan Hall in New York City on April 30, 2011, here is This Ambitious Orchestra with Martin White on vocals and accordion.