Arias with a Twist

Infobox Play
name = Arias with a Twist


image_size =
caption = Promotional poster from the original production.
writer = Joey Arias Basil Twist
chorus =
characters = Joey
mute = Six Puppeteers
setting = Outer Space Earth HERE Arts Center Hell New York City
premiere = June 12, 2008
place = HERE Arts Center, New York City
orig_lang = English
series =
subject =
genre = Comedy
web = http://www.here.org/see/now/
playbill =
ibdb_id = "Arias with a Twist" is a collaborative play created by celebrated drag queen Joey Arias and renowned puppetteer Basil Twist, which premiered on June 12, 2008 at the HERE Arts Center in the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre. Although the play is performed as a one-person show starring Joey Arias, it also features the work of six nearly-invisible puppeteers who manipulate traditional marionettes, hand puppets, and the scenic elements. The play runs for 70 minutes.

Plot Summary

The play opens with a musical band of four marionettes, each playing an instrument; piano, drums, trumpet, and bass. After a brief song, the audience is introduced to Joey Arias. Arias has been kidnapped by aliens and is subjected to probing while she performs a version of "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin. When the aliens are finished with the intrusion, they eject her from their spaceship and she crash lands in a jungle, presumably on earth. She follows her landing with "Jungle of Eden", an original song by the Propellerheads' Alex Gifford. Alone and hungry, Arias searches for food only to find a mushroom that causes her to hallucinate. During the hallucination sequence, psychedelic imagery is projected onto a scrim at the front of the stage while Arias sings a Beatles medley comprised of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "Within You, Without You". The scene shifts to an undisclosed location where objects float through the air accompanied by Arias’s monologue on her sugar daddy. She is then sent to Hell where she performs a musical number and some suggestive activities with two giant anatomically-correct male devil puppets. Arias sings the Eric Carmen song "All By Myself" and is confronted by her doppelganger in puppet form who inspires her to return to New York City. This prompts another original Alex Gifford song, "Lately". When Arias returns to New York, she arrives just in time to perform in a show with the aforementioned puppet band where she sings the Lambert, Hendricks & Ross song, "Twisted", the Bill Carey and Carl Fischer song, "You've Changed", and Ziegfeld Follies song, "You've Gotta Pull Strings". The production ends in a Busby Berkeley-esque finalé, which includes mirrors and kaleidoscopic video images of Arias's face.

The show has been extended through December 31, 2008 as of August 7, 2008.

Original Cast

*Joey Arias
*Oliver Dalzell
*Randy Ginsburg
*Kirsten Kammermeyer
*Mat Leabo
*Jessica Scott
*Lindsay Abromaitis Smith

Original Creative Staff

*Director: Basil Twist
*Lighting: Ayumu Saegusa
*Sound: Greg Duffin
*Projections: Daniel Brodie
*Costume Concepts: Thierry Mugler
*Costume Design: Chris March
*Musical Arrangements: Eliot Douglass and Jean Houle Francoise
*Original Songs: Alex Gifford
*Stage Manager: Neelam Vaswani
*Producers: Barbara Busackino, Here’s Dream Music Puppetry Program, Tandem Otter Productions, and Johnnie Moore

Sources

*http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/theater/reviews/19twist.html?fta=y
*http://www.timeout.com/newyork/articles/theater/34271/arias-with-a-twist
*http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/showpage.php?t=aria6709
*http://www.playbill.com/news/article/120206.html
*http://www.curtainup.com/ariaswithatwist.html

External Links

* [http://ariaswithatwist.blogspot.com/ Airas with a Twist Official Blog]
* [http://ariaswithatwist.com/ Official Web Site]