Their worst day of the year may not have happened until the very last day of the year — but the passengers of a certain aging luxury liner have 2016 beaten handily when it comes to feeling as if the whole world has been turned upside down. So make sure your 2017 doesn’t start off on a disastrous note by spending New Year’s Eve with the dirty-minded, sharp-tongued, evergreen delight that is Hedda Lettuce. To put your own sorrows into perspective and assure you there’s got to be a morning after, the yet-to-wilt drag legend will preside over a screening of 1972’s “The Poseidon Adventure.” It’s the latest installment of her 15-year-running “Hedda Presents The Classics” series at Cinépolis Chelsea — the recently renamed and much-improved W. 23rd St. venue that’s changed hands more times than Hedda at an open bar Christmas party. Proceeds from the bar at this party will benefit Housing Works, a nonprofit hopelessly devoted to the causes of homelessness and AIDS.
Guests should plan on arriving early to enjoy the wine and beer bar, snack on complimentary hors d’oeurves, mingle, and perhaps even win one of the special prizes. Inside the movie theater, Hedda will replace the standard coming attractions trailers with some gloriously profane stand-up. Then, the audience experiences a restless, tribal-type screening of the film — whose prototypical Lifetime TV movie histrionics from the likes of Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons and Shelley Winters are fodder for Hedda’s highly evolved ability to harvest camp quips from low-hanging fruit.
Later that night, Hedda helps you ring in the New Year (sans that pesky rogue wave that toppled the S.S. Poseidon) with a complimentary champagne toast and a live feed of the countdown from Times Square.
Sat., Dec. 31, 8pm at Cinépolis Chelsea (260 W. 23rd St., btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves.). The $45 ticket price includes the film screening, one complementary drink, light snacks, and midnight champagne toast. To order, visit cinepolisusa.com/chelsea.aspx. Artist info at heddalettuce.com.
–By Scott Stiffler
