50 Shades of Covid-19

Hope everyone had a great Summer! Hard to believe 5 years ago, my show 50 Shades of Gay debuted in NYC, Pride Weekend on Saturday June 27th 2015. Friday, June 26th, the day before the show premiered, the Supreme Court passed marriage equality. On the night of the show, the Theater in New York City was sold out and everyone was ready to celebrate. Since that day, the show has been picked up for many festivals and I have been able to take it around the U.S., selling out venues in cities for multiple nights, meeting fans of the show, who have been waiting anxiously to see it. During it's run, I have been able to work with so many talented artists, not just the guests in the show, but people behind the scenes as well. While on the road, the show won Awards in NYC and Providence. This year I had an incredible night put together to celebrate the 5th Anniversary at the Triad Theater in NYC, with all new material, and 1 or 2 old favorite scenes, but with the restrictions on indoor performing, the date has been postponed. What I find so wild, was the amount of tickets that still sold, people wanting to come out to still see the show, especially with what was going on.

Luckily, the year was not a total loss, I was able to put together a Virtual show back in April, called "LIVE! In Bed With Ike Avelli" and it went on for 14 episodes, 12 of which were consecutive and I was able to tie in 50 Shades of Gay into special edition episodes like PRIDE or Christmas in July. Also in July, Rochester Fringe Festival, which the show has been a part of since 2017, invited us to come back for the 2020 Fringe, but this time ON DEMAND! Thanks to Tym Moss, who literally taped every single show we've done since the tour began, we were able to enter again for 12 consecutive nights! Last night, September 26th was the last night to purchase tickets, and now, as you can see in the pic I am relaxing. I forgot how much work goes into marketing/promoting and putting together a show, even if it was already recorded LOL.

So what's in store for next year with this particular show? Once Theaters open up again, we will be back on the road, hitting new cities that we were suppose to hit this year, like Chicago, Miami, Palm Springs to mention a few. But for now, THANK YOU to everyone who purchased tickets and tuned in for the 12 nights this month!

Enjoy the fall season!

Ike