A New York Doll Immortalized

Roxy Cinema welcomes home its favorite doll, David Johansen, for an exclusive theatrical run of the latest Martin Scorsese/David Tedeschi-directed film, Personality Crisis: One Night Only, in conjunction with its Showtime premiere. On Saturday April 15^th at 3PM and Sunday April 23^rd at 7:45 PM, Roxy Cinema will be showing the film FREE to the public. Seats are first come, first served.

 

The film is a portrait of musical iconoclast David Johansen from Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi. From his days leading The New York Dolls to his reinvention as lounge lizard Buster Poindexter, David Johansen is a chameleonic, one of a kind performer. Featuring a live performance at Café Carlyle in New York City, where he performs as Poindexter singing the Johansen songbook, along with new and archival interviews, the film is a testament to a lost New York and a performer who remains as fresh and exciting as ever. Much of the work seen in the documentary was conceived during David’s residency at The Roxy Hotel.

Mara Hennesy (David’s wife and collaborator)  invited Martin Scorsese to the show at The Carlyle. Scorsese at the time was very deep in pre-production of Killers Of The Flower Moon, but had been a long time fan of Johansen. Marty ended up going to the show and decided he needed to film it. He now calls it a companion piece to Killers Of The Flower Moon and had stated it was important to capture an icon of a vanishing New York. The film is split between heartfelt interviews shot by Johansen and Mara’s daughter Leah during the pandemic, the performance at the Carlyle, and archival footage.

 

Q&A from the April 14th screening of Personality Crisis: One Night Only at Roxy Cinema New York