Drag chanteuse extraordinaire Joey Arias and master puppeteer Basil Twist invite you on a magical mystery tour through space and time. From a neon-lit space lab, to an abundant Garden of Eden, to a smoky Manhattan night club, Arias with a Twist is a trippy, madcap, musical fantasia of ecstatic desires and eye-popping enchantments. With Arias’ legendary voice, and Twist’s spectacular puppetry, this “sometimes racy, occasionally raunchy, and always riveting” (New York Daily News) production is not to be missed! www.ariaswithatwist.com
Questions to respond to:
1. According to Joey Arias, does he want us to consider the evening as “a twist”
of entertainment or does he have a deeper message for us? And, if so, what
would that be, do you think?
2. In terms of Basil Twist’s puppetry “dreamscapes”, why does he move us from
the Garden of Eden, to “hell and back again?”
3. How does the scale — from the large red-eyed puppets from hell to the small
size of the four band leaders — give us keys to this story?
Apparently there is an article in the New Yorker that makes the case that this type of performance art is becoming all the more popular in Manhattan because of so many foreign visitors who don’t know the language.
I agree completely with the back row observation. We were removed and not immersed. Joey Arias’s interactions with those in the front row were funny.
It’s great to have your comments, Melinda and Susan. As we continue to expand our visits to forms of new music-theatre around town, we learn much from each other.
I was perhaps more impressed with aspects of this work than either of you, but agree, quite frankly, that I resonated more with “the twist” than “the arias”.
I thought that the big opening, when Mr. Joey Arias knocked me out in his nightmare “probe” scene, screeching Led Zeppelin, was promising more substance and I guess more ideas in his story than what he delivered. Then as the evening continued, I thought his part fell more into the pitfalls of much performance art, where the lack of narrative through line bothered me much less that what seemed to be a thrown together series of “these are a few of my favorite things” songs. I also thought he fared less well as a chanteuse with his Billie Holiday renditions.
Basil Twist’s puppets, on the other hand, kept delighting me and carrying me into another world of dreamscapes. I felt as if I were Alice in Wonderland going through a looking glass of my own into a topsy-turvy world where size and characters kept changing. No psychedelics needed to blow one’s mind, and no story other than an extended dreamworld was necessary.
The switching of scale to tease our minds was something very special indeed, and can only be done so superbly with puppets. The back up orchestra of tiny puppets was sensational and demonstrated exquisite workmanship in their creation and execution. I loved when Arias related to one of the puppets, referring to her “little wooden pecker” of a husband. I adored the octopus legs encircling and groping. But one of my favorite scenes was perhaps technically the simplest. The New York skyline was envisioned in terms of moving props, I mean puppets, with Joey Arias stomping Godzilla-like through the dwarfed city. And then the giant “Arias” legs coming down from the sky hit a visual climax. To me, it had all the way to do with how memory extends relative power to objects, relations, and sex in particular and how memories then play out in our mind. A woman’s legs or an “exquisite” evening’s dose of self-pity can loom larger in our thoughts than a great long extension of time in a poor marriage.
One last reflection was that I felt that being in the back row of Woolly Mammoth created a disservice to our experience of the whole. We were too far away to enjoy the titillation or feel surrounded by the whirling light show. Instead, we watched the execution of sound and light from afar, and I’ll suggest that this distancing effect “reduced” any intimacy necessary to the cabaret form and Mr. Arias’ performance.
To get another perspective on the show, go to DCTheatreScene and read Eric Brooks’ review. He is our colleague and puppeteer on Sandaya: Burmese Lessons.
Susan
At the beginning of the show, I admired the high energy of the music and the light show. I settled back to enjoy what was yet to come. The trouble was, not a whole lot of spectacular followed. I was confused as to what in the world was going on. The story was unclear to me.
I loved the small puppets and Joey’s torch songs; the “Godzilla” scene was great. Other than that, it seemed to be a showcase for Joey and his attempt to push the envelope with little redeeming value. My husband left after 20 minutes, but I’m glad I stayed until the end just for that scene of Joey stomping over Manhattan.
If there is a deeper message, I am afraid I missed it. It definitely is a letting go of preconceived notions of gender, theater narrative, humanity so if you go with that, it is entrancing, especially the puppets and the light show. Perhaps the Garden of Eden and the 1930s ambience is reminding us of a time when persons were innocent and unspoiled, creative, spiritually fulfilled (by Vishnu?) part of creation (?) and now, in the incredible New York scene, we’ve been hammered down by buildings, technology, society and so now we are a big-ass monster clomping through the streets, scaring everyone.
I just have trouble getting there with the drag queen character and a voice that at times was Billie Holiday, cum Judy Garland, but mostly not. Maybe it is because the piece does lack narrative and is a conglomeration of some cool elements, especially the light show, Vishnu, and puppets, but I couldn’t get what it all was together, other than a performance by a drag queen who just didn’t grab me by being endearing or hilarious. Perhaps, too, we are beyond some of the gender cliches. Or maybe the raunchiness was too unsettling for this more-conventional theater lover.