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Arias with a Twist both is and isn’t what – at least in my imagination – it was cracked up to be.
A fantasy cabaret starring legendary avant-garde drag performance artist Joey Arias and the visual magic of puppetry mastermind Basil Twist? Has to be a total blast, right?
Actually this update of a show first staged in 2008 is pretty bumpy – like Arias’ costume.
The numbers and skits span sci-fi, psychedelia, and jazz-age cabaret, all spiked with plenty of raunchiness. The songs range from Billie Holiday to Led Zeppelin.
Mingled with projections, the puppetry is a wonder: life-sized characters (human and otherwise), a living jungle, a sparkling New York cityscape. Most charming of all is the Dream Music Orchestra, a century-old quartet of puppet musicians. Not only do they “play,” but Arias interviews them in one of the show’s best scenes.
Arias is clearly delighted and thankful to be back, after a stint with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas, in the “underground” NYC scene that birthed his persona and success. His warmth and authenticity are equalled by the gritty, uncomputerized glamor of the physical production. A troupe of talented puppeteers steers the surrounding action in darkness and in light, with music and without, behind and around and underneath.
Directed by Basil Twist, the show includes a self-indulgent segment of old film clips and Hollywood interviews dubbed with praise for this very show. This video medley is more cringy than funny. But otherwise the show revels in good old-fashioned broad, dirty humor.
The missing piece is that today’s Arias lacks the voice to pull off even kitschy versions of tunes from any of the musical golden ages the show draws from. Thus the important cabaret element suffers.
You really want to love this star, perfectly in his element, strutting his stuff with a shimmy and a wink. But the vocals fall short, evoking feelings that I didn’t want to be having at a show with such a warm glam glow.
Funny, emotionally succulent, and visually arresting, Arias with a Twist begs your indulgence at HERE Arts Center through November 1, 2026.
