Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts presents A Date With John Waters on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m.
Affectionately known as “The King of Bad Taste” and “The Pope of Trash,” Waters is celebrated for his now-classic cult movies such as Pink Flamingos, Polyester and Hairspray. He is also a photographer and curator whose work has been shown in galleries and museums around the world, and the author of numerous books, including the best-selling Role Models; Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America; and most recently, Make Trouble, published in 2017. He returns to Scottsdale for a night of onstage, irreverent adults-only commentary, followed by a book signing.
Waters, who has noted that “life is nothing if you’re not obsessed,” has played to sold-out audiences at the Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Bonnaroo, the Sydney Opera House, Volksbühne Berlin and Southbank Centre in London.
“Hairspray” won eight Tony® Awards and “Cry Baby — The Musical” was nominated for four Tonys. In the summer of 2007, the movie “Hairspray,” starring John Travolta, Christopher Walken and Michelle Pfeiffer, was a worldwide box office hit.
Waters, who says, “I pride myself on the fact that my work has no socially redeeming value,” last performed at the Center in December 2010 for A John Waters Christmas. During the show, he shared some of his favorite holiday traditions, from his compulsive desire to give and receive perverted gifts to his religious fanaticism for Santa Claus and an unhealthy love of real-life holiday horror stories. He also delved into his passion for lunatic exploitation Christmas movies and the unhealthy urge to remake all of his films into seasonal children’s classics.
He noted in a 2015 commencement address at the Rhode Island School of Design, “Somehow I’ve been able to make a living doing what I love best for 50 years without ever having to get a real job.”
Tickets: $69 (M $61) / $49 / $39/ Free for eligible veterans, students and teachers. Patrons 29 and under, 50 percent off.
