Theater assessment
Have you ever ever puzzled to your self: Can anybody make an entertaining, escapist cabaret present set in a dystopian future led to by local weather catastrophe and alien invasion? The reply is: They certain can!
In “Collectively Once more, Once more!” the most recent collaboration from song-and-dance duo Jinkx Monsoon and Main Scales at Seattle Rep, the yr is 2065 and issues haven’t been going properly on planet Earth. The solar has exploded, Earth has been overtaken by gelatinous area beings, and these new overlords aren’t precisely benevolent. What’s the antidote for such a dire scenario? A reunion present! In our case, a return of that dynamic, dysfunctional however loving duo Jinkx and Main, getting the band again collectively of their golden years, after a few years aside.
Is there a plot? Form of! Does it matter? By no means! As Jinkx herself places it within the present, “I’m not gonna overthink it, and also you shouldn’t both.”
The gist: After “The Vaudevillians” in 2014 and “Unwrapped,” their final present on the Rep, in 2015, Jinkx and Main haven’t spoken in years, since Jinkx went solo to star in a string of straight-to-streaming sequels and gender-swapped reboots of outdated films.
On a cluttered set that appears half-unpacked, Jinkx and Main sing, dance and hash out friendship, fame, getting outdated, promoting out, romance and remorse with a wholesome splash of self-aware humor and one very, very particular joke concerning the film “Saltburn.”
I need to additionally shout out the one in-character, recorded preshow announcement I’ve ever appreciated, as a result of along with telling us to silence our telephones, and many others., the voice of Jinkx additionally inspired the viewers to be loud of their reactions however with an vital caveat for overly chatty 2024 audiences: “It is a scripted present, and none of you have got any strains.”
The present is written by Monsoon and Scales, and options each unique music by Scales and preparations of all the things from Gorillaz to a shocking and transferring interpretation of “What Would You Do?” from “Cabaret” and a heartwarming duet of “(You’re) Timeless to Me” from “Hairspray.” In between, their characters bicker, reminisce and rehash outdated fights, together with a long-simmering disagreement about their one huge hit, a chart-topping quantity from “A Star Is Born 2: Afterbirth.”
Monsoon, her signature pink hair betraying some silver roots, takes the stage with a robust Norma Desmond power, with only a trace of “Gray Gardens” and maybe reduce with a teeny-tiny smidgen of the power from John Mulaney’s Broadway present “Oh, Good day!” As a comic, Monsoon may have her very personal ministry of foolish walks; nobody struts, stomps or scoots throughout a stage fairly like her. As her aw-shucks, second-fiddle accompanist, Scales spends many of the present sitting on the piano, as all the time, backing up the diva who so desperately must be heart stage. However when he places his foot down and insists on their partnership, it’s straightforward to see why the salty-sweet mixture has such lasting attraction.
Don’t neglect that, although Monsoon might have lip-synced for her life on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” this chicken can sing, and she or he generally sings phrases utilizing no matter vowels she rattling properly pleases, the hallmark of any true diva.
Again right here in actual life in 2024, she’s recent off a New York run as Audrey in “Little Store of Horrors,” a serious visitor look on “Physician Who” and is returning to NYC in July for a return efficiency as Mama Morton in “Chicago” on Broadway and, subsequent yr, her Carnegie Corridor debut.
The Bagley Wright Theater, Seattle Rep’s bigger theater area, isn’t a simple venue for a present like this, the place what you really need is to be sitting at a cabaret desk inside spitting distance of your diva. Can Monsoon fill a home this measurement? Completely, after which some. However this isn’t only a stand-and-sing form of present, there’s a variety of dialogue and storytelling and viewers addresses that really feel way more suited to an area within the custom of New York’s Cafe Carlyle, the place many a diva has instructed her story by means of cabaret. In these settings, the hush that takes over a crowd once they’re transfixed by a performer speaks volumes, whereas silence is anticipated from a theater viewers — and that’s a tough behavior to interrupt, even for those who’re inspired to be loud.
However we’re not right here to overthink: It’s enjoyable to look at individuals have enjoyable, and these two appear to be having enjoyable collectively. The present is each broad and detailed, foolish, intelligent and self-referential, mentioning all the things from Monsoon’s “Drag Race” wins and the tendency of native exhibits to attraction to audiences by simply mentioning nouns which are in that metropolis. Seattle issues!
So it’s not but 2065, and the solar has not exploded (that I do know of) and gelatinous beings don’t management our days (that I do know of), however frankly, we may nonetheless use an antidote to some fairly bleak years. Generally, watching two performers who know precisely what they’re doing, and have a good time doing it, is simply what the physician ordered.
