"Chasing Andy Warhol" theatrical walking tour brings story of late icon back to life
NEW YORK -- Andy Warhol mania is taking over New York City, with exhibits, a streaming docuseries and new theatrical walking tour called "Chasing Andy Warhol."
As CBS2's Dave Carlin reports, the show incorporates immersive theater, dance, film, art and puppetry to tell the story of an icon.
It's a spring of flashing back to an era that popped. When the Pop Art of the late, great, one-of-a-kind genius Andy Warhol changed the world.
He lives again in human and puppet form along East Village streets in the theatrical, intricately choreographed walking tour production about his life. It's a very physical show for the cast and audiences, hitting a total of 16 locations.
Warhol is played by Jake Malavsky.
"Andy is a little cheeky, and there's something about Andy and the whole conceit of the show is that Andy needs to be chased, and that you can never actually figure out who is Andy is," Malavsky told Carlin. "He has a lot of neurosis and things that hold him up socially and interpersonally, but creatively he's someone that just jumps. And I think I really admire that."
"Using New York and the adventure of it all and the chaos really, it's organized chaos," creator Mara Lieberman said. "You have to find a group of people that have energy for finding excellence in the art and want to push the form just like Andy did, and I found a group of people that are just so excited."
TMPL Gym Astor Place partnered with his production, providing rehearsal space and a key performance space.
Carlin saw a rehearsal for a scene that featured a key figure in Warhol's creative life, played by Antonia Santangelo.
"I'm going to be playing Edie Sedgewick. She was one of Andy's greatest muses, they were like a dynamic duo," Santangelo said. "She was the star of a lot of his films."
The show gives audience members their own fleeting feelings of fame, as they peer into this window at TMPL Gym.
"A live feed camera, so we turn it towards the audience, the audience gets to see themselves up on the TV. And so Andy is here in the space trying to figure out how to become the icon that he became," said Lieberman. "Where he figures out who am I as an artist?"
"What's been so amazing is with the Netflix documentary and all these awesome resources coming out, it's been the time to dig in about Andy and figure out who is," Malavsky said.
Previews are underway for "Chasing Andy Warhol," and opening night is April 7th.