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The incomparable Kiki & Herb (@kikiandherb),[@kennymellman(Instagram/Twitter) and [@mxviv (Facebook/Instagram)/@mxjustinVbond (Twitter)] serve up their legendary brand of holiday cheer with DO YOU HEAR WHAT WE HEAR? @KimmelCC (Twitter)/@KimmelCulturalCampus (Facebook and Instagram) on 12/5. For more info, visit kimmelculturalcampus.org.
Press Contacts:
Lauren A. Woodard Hall Hannah Palermo
484-832-1963 267-765-3724
lhall@kimmelculturalcampus.org hpalermo@alliedglobalmarketing.com
KIMMEL CULTURAL CAMPUS PRESENTS THE OCTOGENARIAN DUO
KIKI & HERB WITH THEIR HOLIDAY TOUR
DO YOU HEAR WHAT WE HEAR?
DECEMBER 5, 2022
“... slashingly funny... entertainment – part cabaret,
part rock and roll, part Victorian melodrama.”
-Alex Ross, THE NEW YORKER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (October 27, 2022) – The Kimmel Cultural Campus is thrilled to present Kiki & Herb on their holiday tour DO YOU HEAR WHAT WE HEAR? at the Miller Theater (formerly the Merriam Theater) on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. This holiday season, prepare yourself for sleighing belles, rabid yells, and tidings of joy from New York’s most iconic “octogenarian” lounge act, created and performed by Justin Vivian Bond and Kenny Mellman.
Kiki is a washed-up, boozed-up chanteuse, with a voice that is a mixture of Tom Waits and Ethel Merman with a dash of Judy, whose middle age passed her by some time ago. Herb, her piano-battering, lifelong accompanist, provides support both musically and emotionally. As Kiki & Herb, Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman have dazzled audiences around the world for almost two decades with their ground-breaking wildly popular cabaret shows. They have played the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theatre, the Sydney Opera House, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. The duo has also appeared at the Bonn Biennale (Germany), On The Boards (Seattle), the Great American Music Hall (San Francisco), and the Knitting Factory (L.A.).
Bond and Mellman’s signature cocktail of boozy banter, pop-culture shmaltz, and claws-out cultural critique has charmed cities across this nation for more than two decades. The infamous duo makes their way through several seasonal songs, belting Christmas classics off their long-out-of-print (but two tracks are available now on Spotify) album, DO YOU HEAR WHAT WE HEAR?, and slinging enough cheer to choke down this holiday season.
“Kiki & Herb are simply one of a kind,” said Frances Egler, Senior Director of Programming and Presentations on the Kimmel Cultural Campus. “Their hilarious spoofs, over-the-top performances, and undeniable chemistry has entertained audiences for years. Their unique star power creates a uniquely queer holiday celebration that we are happy to bring to the Campus for the very first time.”
Kiki & Herb have performed and toured with The Scissor Sisters and Rufus Wainwright. The duo received an Obie Award for their show Kiki & Herb: Jesus Wept and earned a Tony Award nomination for their 2007 show Kiki & Herb: Alive on Broadway. They have released two albums: Do You Hear What We Hear? featuring Deborah Harry, Isaac Mizrahi, Molly Ringwald, and Rufus Wainwright and Kiki and Herb Will Die For You, a live recording of their Carnegie Hall show.
The Kiki & Herb: DO YOU HEAR WHAT WE HEAR? national tour is presented in association with Tony Award- and Emmy Award-winning producer, Jared Geller.
About the artists:
Mx. Justin Vivian Bond (they, them, their) has appeared on stage (Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Londonʼs West End), screen (Shortbus, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Sunset Stories), television (High Maintenance, Difficult People, The Get Down), nightclub stages (most notably, a decades-long residency at Joeʼs Pub at The Public Theater), and in concert halls worldwide (including Carnegie Hall and The Sydney Opera House). In December 2019, Mx. Bond made their Vienna Staatsoper debut as Orlandoʼs child in the world premiere of Olga Neuwirthʼs Orlando. In 2021, they appeared as the Lounge Singer in Boston Lyric Opera’s streaming opera Desert In and made several yearend “Best of” lists with their shows Only an Octave Apart co-created with counter-tenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, Zack Winokur, and Thomas Bartlett, as well as Kiki and Herb Sleigh at BAM with Kenny Mellman.
Mx. Bond’s visual art and installations have been seen in museums and galleries in the United States (Participant, Inc., and The New Museum) and abroad (Vitrine, London). Their memoir, Tango: My Childhood Backwards and in High Heels (Feminist Press), won the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction. They are the recipient of an Obie, a Bessie, and a Tony nomination, as well as an Ethyl Eichelberger Award, The Peter Reed Foundation Grant, The Foundation for Contemporary Art Grant for Artists, and The Art Matters Grant.
They have self-released several full-length recordings, including Dendrophile and Silver Wells. As one-half of the legendary punk cabaret duo Kiki & Herb, they toured the world and released two CDs: Do You Hear What We Hear? and Kiki and Herb Will Die for You at Carnegie Hall.
They have a master’s degree in live art from Central Saint Martins College in London and have taught performance composition and Live Art Installation at NYU and Bard College. Mx. Bond currently divides their time between residences in New York Cityʼs East Village and the Hudson Valley.
Kenny Mellman is one half of the Tony nominated and Obie- and Bessie-winning act Kiki and Herb. His show Kenny Mellman Is Grace Jones toured the US, Australia, and the UK and his one man musical about gay bashing and homophobia Say Sea Boy You Sissy Boy? was commissioned by Dixon Place. He co-wrote the musical At Least It’s Pink with Michael Patrick King and Bridget Everett at ArsNova. He also, with Everett and Neal Medlyn, co-created Our Hit Parade, a downtown NY deconstruction of the pop charts which ran for 4 sold-out years at Joe’s Pub. He was in the cast and composed the music for Good For Otto at The New Group in 2018. Mellman was in the band The Julie Ruin. Fronted by Kathleen Hanna, of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre fame, they released two records and toured extensively. He was a 2021 recipient of a Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant.
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Other featured upcoming performances on the Kimmel Cultural Campus include PHILADANCO! The Continuum – Now/New/Next (October 28-30, Perelman Theater), Jazzmeia Horn (October 28, 2022, Verizon Hall), “Weird Al” Yankovic: The Unfortunate Return of the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour (October 28, 2022, Miller Theater), Dirty Dancing In Concert (October 29, 2022, Academy of Music), Pink Martini and The Philadelphia Orchestra featuring China Forbes (November 3, 2022, Verizon Hall), ALOK (November 5, 2022, Perelman Theater), Preservation Hall Jazz Band (November 11, 2022, Miller Theater), The Illusionists – Magic of the Holidays (November 17, 2022, Academy of Music), Harry Connick, Jr. A Holiday Celebration (November 19, 2022, Academy of Music) and A Soulful Christmas (December 13, 2022, Verizon Hall).
Tickets
Tickets can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999 or online at www.kimmelculturalcampus.org. In-person ticket sales can be conducted daily from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. at the Academy of Music Box Office, located at 240 S. Broad Street. See www.kimmelculturalcampus.org for more information.
Kiki & Herb: DO YOU HEAR WHAT WE HEAR?
Miller Theater (formerly the Merriam Theater) on the Kimmel Cultural Campus
December 5, 2022, at 7:30 p.m.
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KIMMEL CULTURAL CAMPUS
Located in the heart of Center City, Philadelphia, our mission is to engage the region's diverse communities with art through performance and education. Our Cultural Campus serves more than 1-million guests per year and includes Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (Verizon Hall, Perelman Theater, and SEI Innovation Studio), the Academy of Music, and the Miller Theater (formerly the Merriam Theater) – representing more than 160 years of rich history for the performing arts along Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts. We are home to The Philadelphia Orchestra and seven esteemed Resident Companies: Opera Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Ballet, The Philly POPS, PHILADANCO, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Curtis Institute of Music. With nearly 9,000 seats per night, we are the region's most impactful performing arts center, and the second largest in the country. Our Cultural Campus serves as a preeminent and inclusive place to enjoy exceptional experiences that reflect the spirit of our region by cultivating a creative and socially responsible environment where our community shares experiences that are delivered with pride, integrity, and respect. As a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization, we collaborate on, present, and produce a broad range of relevant and meaningful events, we serve as an active gathering space for social and community events, we educate the region's young people through access to quality arts experiences, and we provide support to artists in the creation of new work. Read Kimmel Cultural Campus' vision statement, world view, and mission statement here. Learn more about our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and how it encompasses our mission, coworkers, and programs here.
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For photography, please visit https://kcccpress.smugmug.com
For a PDF version of this press release, click here.