Review Rundown: The One With An Invitation From The Queen & VR Avatars From CHANEL
London, NYC, Pittsburgh, and LA represent. FIVE REVIEWS
This week finds the Crew all over the place: London, LA, NYC, Pittsburgh and on the phone… where they’re hitting up opera, XR-powered dance theatre, choose your own adventure style narratives, and a one-on-one phone call with Sylvia Plath.
Want more from the Review Crew? The most recent rundown is here, and the Review Crew’s podcast dove into our March Book Club selection Snow Crash.
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Gianni Schicchi — On Site Opera
$50; New York, NY; Run Concluded
As the wealthy patriarch of a family lies in his deathbed, his family flutters around him as they search desperately for answers as to who will inherit the family’s wealth. The rumor that it has all been left to the local convent can’t possibly be true.… Can it?
So begins Gianni Schicchi, a one act comic opera by Puccini, itself a musical retelling of a story from Dante’s Divine Comedy, which feels just as relevant today with shows like Succession showing that we still enjoy the turmoil of family drama when money is involved. On Site Opera have once again collected a fine roster of artists and musicians to bring this famous opera to life.
Set in the auspicious Prince George Ballroom, a hidden gem in Midtown, the production has taken notes from its site in setting the tone of this rich family. The characters finery place them in a 1920’s who-dunnit mystery, as they bribe the notorious titular character to perhaps help them with their predicament…
Being so close to the music is a real treat, with the famous aria “O Mio Babbino Carro” (trust me, you’ve heard it) sung to me from mere feet away, an impossibility for traditional opera staging. We sit around the bedroom scene on two sides, but the proximity to the performance makes the entire experience far more intimate.
Translation is provided by an app allowing flexible seating, but does mean that I am occasionally drawn away from the performance by seeing faces glancing down at their phone — I understand, but can’t help but feel disappointed that the talent isn’t being fully appreciated… even as I then check my own phone!
On Site Opera continues to provide phenomenal affordable operatic performances, utilizing unusual spaces in such a way as to inspire a brand new audience to engage with the art. While this particular piece was more site-inspired than site-specific (as previous productions have been), being able to enjoy the sublime music and the genuinely funny tale away from the traditional proscenium stage, was a delight.
– Edward Mylechreest, New York City Correspondent
Le Bal de Paris — Blanca Li Dance Company
£25; London, UK; May 19 through May 28
Who draws the line between video games and theatre? What determines reality: that which is physically there, or what we feel is there? Pandemic-era interactive theatre has taught us to question the delivery of performance in a digital space, most often trapping live performers behind the glass wall of a screen which we tap like a fish tank. Le Bal de Paris does the opposite: painting an opulent digital world around the space which holds its live performers and audience.
Immersive, engrossing, enthralling — the Blanca Li Dance Company invites us mere mortals along an enchanted journey through ballrooms, canals, and gardens the likes of which are only seen in beautiful half-remembered dreams. Festooned in VR gear (headset, backpack, ankle and wrist monitors), ten audience members corralled within a forty-by-forty-foot space are masterfully ushered around a transporting landscape by two live in-world dancers as well as a host of VR characters.
Offered in three languages (English, French, and Spanish) and collaborating with Chanel — one of the greatest names in fashion design yet not a corporeal stitch in “sight” — Blanca Li paints as real a world they can without actually building the thing, including breezes which carry the subtle drift of №5 floating between ballroom dances which invite us to partner with our neighbor. When the inevitable end comes, there are audible moans of grief after taking off the headset: the loss of the dream, the return to a barren reality.
At a bemusingly reasonable price point, everyone within easy travel distance of the Barbican in London ought to catch this experience before it continues onward on its international tour. It is the coolest thing, arguably a touchstone production insinuating the future of immersive/interactive performance in Europe.
One hopes the trend, like the dance, continues.
— Shelley Snyder, London Curator
People of Pittsburgh: the Alchemist of Sharpsburg — RealTime Interventions
$5 — $25; Pittsburgh, PA; through April 17
In The Alchemist of Sharpsburg, you play the role of Candra in a blackbox room built into a former church run by City Theatre, a venue boasting a long history of experimental-first productions. RealTime Interventions leans into creatively telling the stories and legends of real, living people! It’s an excellent choice for individuals who are new to immersive theatre, prefer to stay seated for an interactive show, or for contributors who will come on stage and read scenes from the subject’s dramatized life. Audience agency is accessible to even the shyest “Candra,” who will feel comfortable interacting by one or many thoughtful avenues of participation engineered into the show.
Much of the show has the vibe of an engaging discussion, hosted by Rusty Thelin and Lydia Gibson, who encourage questions and personal anecdotes from the audience, and often add their own. Collectively, the entire room decides which paths to go on when presented with two options, playing out a democratized “Choose Your Own Adventure” game. The rooted inspiration of tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) mechanics are plainly acknowledged; there is an added element of chance, involving getting on stage to roll a giant twenty-sided die to determine the outcome of some events in Candra’s real, yet game-ified, life. Future chapters of People of Pittsburgh will be as interactive, but thematically different from TTRPG mechanics — those were chosen specifically for this first story in the series, and new creative interaction mechanics will uniquely represent the subjects of future People of Pittsburgh shows.
The Alchemist of Sharpsburg is a study of transformation. By the end of the two-hour show, you become part of Candra’s life by imitating it — by knowing and telling one’s story, your own story is interwoven among the people of Pittsburgh.
CW: Witchcraft, Occult, Demons, Holocaust, White Supremacy, Deadnaming/Identity
— ᚹᚦ, Pittsburgh Correspondent
The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience — Shondaland, Netflix, & Fever
$50-$90; Los Angeles, CA; Through June 12
Gentle Reader, the Queen has invited you to a ball at the historic Millennium Biltmore Hotel. A red curtain opens, and you’re handed the society papers from Lady Whistledown as you pass under an archway of purple wisteria. Rumor holds it could be the trailhead of a scavenger hunt that may divulge her identity, but the Queen’s Ball, a Bridgerton experience entering the world of the Netflix hit, demands guests make quick choices about how to spend their 90 minutes at the dance.
Upon entry, a bar offers signature cocktails featuring Tanqueray gin, including the “Diamond of the Season,” a sweet, floral delight. Exploring further, there’s a sparkling photo opportunity, a welcoming outdoor patio, and a receiving room, where your portrait is “painted” and you eventually present yourself before the Queen. There are dance lessons and small character interactions throughout, including the quick-witted, sharp-tongued Lady Heartell providing colorful commentary.
Eventually you’ll be invited into the ballroom, where you may get to learn more dance moves from an energetic bee, and observe a budding romance as a star-crossed couple takes over the dance floor. Before the evening is out, the queen chooses the Diamond of the Season, who is showered in glowing approval (along with glitter confetti).
The 90 minutes moved all too swiftly, but kept me highly engaged — I want to return and try my hand again at discovering the identity of Lady Whistledown, enjoy the remainder of those cocktails, and of course take more photos. It’s recommended for Bridgerton fans, adventurous couples looking for fun date nights, a girls’ night out with a fun, regal twist, or for people who just love to wear costumes. Don’t be shy about dressing to the nines, as many soiree guests come enthusiastic and eager to engage and be seen in their Bridgerton best.
— Briana Roecks, Social Media Correspondent
(Editor’s note: While The Queen’s Ball is playing in three other United States cities, this review is of the Los Angeles production.)
We Should Meet in Air — They Played Productions
$30; Remote (Telephone or Discord); through April 30
An intimate, sweet, and sad interactive phone call with poet Sylvia Plath on her last birthday.
Sylvia Plath called me last night. We spoke like old friends, catching each other up on lives that had been moving way too fast. It was her birthday and she was thinking about filing for a divorce. I had just finished making dinner and was wrapping up work emails. We spent thirty short minutes talking about families and poems and fears with such candor and ease — I was genuinely sad when it came time to hang up and say goodbye.
Which, I imagine, is just a shadow of how creator Stepy Kamei feels about her latest show, We Should Meet in Air. Framed as a phone call from Plath on her 30th (and final) birthday, We Should Meet in Air is a tribute to Plath’s role as Kamei’s spiritual and artistic lighthouse. “Sylvia Plath was my guide for the first 30 years of my life,” says Kamei, who turns 30 later this year. “Now, I’m about to outlive her — it’s greatly intimidating.” Appropriately, We Should Meet in Air serves as a farewell to clarity for both Kamei and her deftly-voiced Plath. Both women face an unknown future. Each asks, “what happens next?”
And that’s what makes this jewel of a show shine. Kamei understands that everyone has faced, will face, or is facing their own crossroads. Her empathy for both Plath and her single-person-per-show audience balances this piece beautifully, making it an elegant example of immersive audio at its finest.
— Leah Davis, New England Correspondent
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