Posted: 11/9/18 at 7:20pm
Has anyone seen this heaping pile of dog s hit? Or does anyone want to witness a baffling, over-produced attempt to cash in on the "immersive" theatre market right now? Then have I got the show for you.
Holy hell everyone. I feel bad for everyone involved, especially Dusty Ray Bottoms. Everyone in it is incredibly talented--especially all of the leading characters and I have no doubt they will all blow up and have great careers, they were that good. But not even Cleopatra's reanimated corpse could save this incomprehensible mess. The tone is all over the place--with Dusty Ray Bottoms it feels very campy and she is hilarious, there are audience members doing walks on the runway, there's a lot of voguing and nods to drag culture--but then the rest of it becomes almost Hamiltonesque with all of the leading characters rapping melodramatic lyrics and forgettable tunes to each other without a wink of irony. And then of course, Octavian's first few appearances are by an actor in all black holding a puppet of a man in a puppet suit that looks like it was ordered on ThePuppetStore.com and is completely distracting and bizarre.
Oh--and it bills itself as "immersive" but the immersion factor severely lacks, outside of taking audience members up to the stage in some moments. At a certain point, all I could do is laugh because it was trying to do so many different things, and failing at all of them and the plot completely dissipated. Also whoever costume designed this show had the strangest take on what Egypt should look like--ripped jeans, camo pants, fanny packs, spiked bras? (Although the set and lighting were well designed).
Tickets start at $59 (thank god I was comped) and the bar is pricey too. I have no idea what I would even compare it to, but I imagine that this level of confusing must've been like what seeing Via Galactica or Dude was like. If you can grab a comp, or have the money to see a total hot mess with Dusty Ray Bottoms--do it. Otherwise, stay away.
Updated On: 11/9/18 at 07:20 PM
