Coming this Halloween Season, 2021:
LADY NEIGHBORHOOD’S ULTIMATE PLAYLIST
A NEW ONE-WOMAN CABARET SERIES/MUSICAL EPIC/PIECE OF HATE MAIL TO THE WORLD
CURATED BY HER MAJESTY, THE QUEEN OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD, Samantha Echo
Samantha Echo as Lady Neighborhood, fairy, opera singer, Queen of the Neighborhood in exile. Photographed in Fort Tryon Park by Amanda Kaye.
A flapper-esque Lady Neighborhood reaches for her wine bottle. Samantha Echo by Amanda Kaye.
WHO IS LADY NEIGHBORHOOD? WHY DOES SHE MATTER?
Lady Neighborhood, the narrator, was born on February 25th, 1989, at 7:53 AM, in Washington Heights, NYC, on Planet Earth, the Milky Way galaxy, but sometimes she wonders if she would have made more sense being born in an alternate reality. Sometimes she wonders if she is, quite literally, an alien. Meanwhile, on another plane of existence, in an alternate reality, there is another little girl with hair black as ebony and big brown eyes, born at exactly the same time, but this girl is born into a place where life is a musical, where people spontaneously burst into song every time they have a feeling. These two girls are very similar in some of the details of their lives; they are almost identical in appearance and personality. Both girls eventually take on the moniker “Lady Neighborhood.” But the girl from the Musical Theatre Universe has no pores, and this girl, at birth, was given the name Alyssa Marjorie Spinrad. When her own obsession with alternate realities and transcendence causes a break in the very fabric of reality, Lady Neighborhood of earth’s non-musical theatre realm gains access to the world of Alyssa Marjorie Spinrad of the Musical Theatreverse. This is her story.
A portrait of the narrator (Lady Neighborhood), as a child. Born February 25th, 1989, at 7:53 AM in Washington Heights, NY. Named after her dead grandfather. Born in a reality where everyone has pores and nobody bursts into song spontaneously with a full orchestra behind them.
A portrait of the protagonist (Alyssa Marjorie Spinrad), as a child. Born February 25th, 1989, 7:53 AM in Inwood, NY. Named after her dead aunt Alyson (middle name after her dead grandfather, Maurice). She has no pores and lives in a reality where people burst into song spontaneously with a full orchestra every single time they have a feeling.
(Photo effects courtesy of toonme.com)
THEY BOTH SING.
A portrait of the Artist as a grownup. I call this “Anything Goes in Fairyland.” Which I kind of ripped off of that Matt Groenig series “Disenchantment.” I was very proud that that series portrayed all the fairies as jaded party girls and word-weary sluts. They get it.
(Photo Credit: Amanda Kaye Photography)
A portrait of the protagonist as a grownup. I call this “Alyssa through the looking glass.” Alyssa Marjorie Spinrad is more beautiful than her twin (left, the narrator, Lady Neighborhood) but like Lady Neighborhood of the Non-MusicalTheatreverse, she is a 32-year-old spinster who has never had a boyfriend (though she gets laid very occasionally) and a washed-up child prodigy with Anxiety. Spoiler alert: they become best friends!!!!! :) :) :)
(Photo effects courtesy of Toonme.com)
Okay, so one of the major differences between Lady Neighborhood and Alyssa is that Alyssa can very occasionally speak directly with God. For example, she got her first period when she was eleven, and felt that was too early. She walked into God's office on Madison Avenue to complain to him. His response was to say, "Alyssa, everyone loves an early bloomer. This is you in the future. This is some great copy right here. Everyone wants this."
And this is God. He is not always easy to deal with but he loves you.
“You Remind Me of My Mother” Music and Lyrics by Phillip Margulies. To be featured in the Season Finale of Lady Neighborhood Season 1. NO SPOILERS! Okay, maybe spoilers. I have a big mouth. Oy.
So how does this thing work? Watch Little Miss Small, Dark, and Ridiculous (aka Samantha Echo aka Lady Neighborhood) explain the creative process behind her new project and why you should come to the show’s pilot episode (aka Lady Neighborhood’s Preludium aka Episode 00) October 22nd, 2021 (location and time TBA).
Lady Neighborhood in her natural habitat, captured in photographic form by Amanda Kaye Photography.