Almost everything about Woolly Mammoth’s “Arias With a Twist” is oversized and exaggerated, from female impersonator Joey Arias’ super-diva persona to master puppeteer Basil Twist’s seven-foot-high devil puppets. There are a few tiny puppets, sized to emphasize their distance from us. But a general rule of thumb is that size matters.
According to the program, “Arias With a Twist” is intended to be a “celebration of how Joey and Basil came to be the artists they are today.” Whether Arias and Twist achieve that end is debatable, but there are some bright spots in the show.
The first brilliant element is The Dream Music Orchestra, four 80-year-old hand-carved wooden marionettes, each of whom represents a famous bandleader from the 1930s. One of the marionettes is supposed to be Twist’s grandfather, Griff Williams. The marionettes, which were given to Twist on his tenth birthday, look amazingly lifelike as they perform on separate mini-stages next to one another.
| Onstage |
| ‘Arias With A Twist’ |
| Where: Woolly Mammoth Theatre, 641 D St., N.W. |
| When: Through May 6 |
| Info: Tickets start at $35; 202-393-3939; woollymammoth.net |
After the introduction by the orchestra, Arias is introduced in outer space, having been captured by green-eyed aliens in a blue space-ship. Multicolored neon lights encircle Arias as he whirls on a circling gyre, singing his heart out, dressed only in black bra, garter belt, fishnet stockings and stiletto heels. Note: this is not a puppet show for children, unless you let your children watch everything available on cable TV.
After his trip to the heavens, Arias tumbles back to Earth, landing somewhere in a rain forest populated with purple toucans, gardenia blossoms and snakes of every size. Soon he’s in Hell with those raunchy, anatomically correct devil puppets, who bring out all the lasciviousness Arias can muster.
Back in New York, Arias sings Billie Holiday’s “You’ve Changed,” and a slow, breathy rendition of “All By Myself.” But Arias doesn’t stay low key for long. Soon he achieves larger-than-life, Godzilla-like status and tramples through Manhattan.
Finally, a clever, made-up newsreel describes the exploits and talents of Arias and Twist, using actual footage from early cinema openings. There’s Joan Crawford, gushing about the Twist/Arias connection and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler claiming, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. I’m going to see ‘Arias With a Twist.'”
As with his other works in the D.C. Basil Twist Festival, Twist functions as a magician, making all the physical elements of the production work together smoothly. His sets, from the Amazonian Eden to the brightly illuminated Manhattan, are breathtaking. The lighting by Ayumu “Poe” Saegusa is at times subtle, at times astonishingly wild.
And as ever, a huge round of applause must go to the puppeteers who make it all possible: Chris DeVille, Kristen Kammermeyer, Matt Leabo, Jaime Moore, David Olsen, and Amanda Villalobos.
