Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:00:18 -0400 From: "Steve Abrams" <sapuppets-AT-gmail.com> To: puptcrit <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org> Subject: [Puptcrit] Arias with a Twist Hi AllAa few weeks ago I saw "Arias with a Twist" in New York. I was saving the review for Puppetry Journal, but thought I should share this puptcrit. Basil Twist is the co-creator and director of "Arias with Twist" playing until Dec 31 at HERE in New York. The New York Times gave this show a great review, and I agree. The pace is excellent. Each inventive scene left me wondering what surprising Twist would happen next (pun intended) This not a show for kiddies. The star is Joey Arias. Joey has returned to the East Coast after spending several years as Master of Ceremonies for "Zumanity" the adult Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas. Joey's drag character is somewhat like Tim Curry in Rocky Horror. This is a one-person show with a supporting cast of puppets. Joey is an entertainer who knows how to hold an audience. He has fun performing and clearly wants his audience to have fun too The term drag show covers a lot of territory. This is NOT a show where the drag makes a huge effort to create the illusion that he is woman (usually a singing star) and lip syncs a few numbers. Joey actually sings wonderfully well and in several different styles, including the style of jazz singer Billie Holliday and the mysterious Yma Sumac. For me, Joey's songs were a highlight of the show.The show is packed with visual and musical references (sometimes very pop and sometimes obscure) to the 60s and 70s. The plot, such as it is, is a journey or trip that is a sort of drug induced hallucination. Some of the sexual humor is sly wink wink nudge nudge and some goes right over the top. >From the very first moments of the show, fine lighting and stage craft are used to tease, and lovingly make fun of fine lighting and stage craft in service of the "big build up." There is a great montage of film/video clips in the multi-media spectacle Ok Ok so you want to know about the puppets. An unexpected treat in the show was the combo of marionette jazz musicians who "provided" the music. Basil Twist's grandfather, Griff Williams was the leader of a swing band, and he used large beautifully crafted marionettes as a novelty feature with his band. Basil took the well preserved marionettes out of storage and set them to work. The string bass player bears a striking resemblance to the classical music conductor, Arturo Toscanini. Other musician puppets from the era were Cab Calloway,Harry James, and Ted Lewis There is a scene where the diva finds herself in a tropical jungle populated by creepy puppet snakes. When she escapes to New York there is Busby Berkeley type chorus line of high-kickers. Is a special effects flying saucer right out of a grade B 1960s sci-fi film considered a puppet or moving scenery? The puppeteers in the show take this comedy quite seriously. The manipulation is very professional I don't think the playful naughtiness of the show would be offensive to most people over the age of 15. During the 1930s depression Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Busby Berkeley provided sometimes real elegance and sometimes paper moon glamour, laughter and escape from a troubled economy. The plots were idiotic but everyone had fun and enjoyed the music. "Arias with a Twist" is a similar cocktail. This show marks 10th season for the Dream Music Puppetry Program at HERE's Dorothy B. Williams Theatre. "Dream Music" was Griff Williams' theme song and Dorothy Williams, Basil's grandmother, helped to fund the space. The 80 seat theatre in Soho was launched with Basil's "Symphony Fantastique" which won an Obie Award in 1998. Basil is artistic director of The Dream Music Puppetry Program and along with producing director and HERE co-founder, Barbara Busackino, they provide a space in Manhattan where adult, experimental, works of puppetry are presented. Basil Twist deserves high praise for nurturing many puppeteers and giving them a place to perform. There is a small lobby exhibit showing puppets from shows that have been showcased at HERE over the last 10 years. Sarah Provost's "Charcoal Boy" and Richard Termine's "Diary of a Mad Man" are represented as well as Chinese Theatreworks (Stephen Kaplin), Kevin Augustine, Erin Orr, Lake Simons and Chris Green Steve _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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