DRAG OUT THE PUPPETS

Theater Review

by Kestryl Lowrey

published June 27, 2008

Arias With a Twist

now playing Off Broadway at Here

through August 31

No one does camp like a drag queen, and no one does drag like Joey Arias.  This should give you some clue about Arias with a Twist, a spectacle created by puppet master Basil Twist and diva Joey Arias. 

Rocketing from an alien abduction to Hell to New York, Twist has created a lavish visual adventure to complement Arias’ sultry voice.  This production marks Arias’ long-awaited return to New York City, following a triumphant six-year run in Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity in Las Vegas.  Original songs and reinventions of popular favorites accompany this dazzling epic.  

I would feel sorry for anyone else who had to share the stage with Twist’s impressive puppetry, but Arias refuses to be upstaged.   Strutting and sauntering, Arias works a magic just as compelling as the puppets’, demanding that the puppets live up to his spectacular presence.  As creative forces, Twist and Arias are superbly matched, and the resulting production is delightfully fantastic and intimate. 

Arias with a Twist is an opulent feast for the senses, ecstatic, escapist, and enthralling.  Twist and Arias’ collaboration is not to be missed.

kestryl.lowrey @ stageandcinema.com

read John Topping's review of Arias with a Twist