Basil Twist, Joey Arias and cast

Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN

What delicious alchemy unfolded on the stage of the Abrons Arts Center when downtown drag diva Joey Arias combined his fertile imagination with that of the superb puppeteer Basil Twist! This theatre at the Henry Street Settlement—which also nourished the colorful choreographic flights of Alwin Nikolais—lived up to its illustrious history with the mind-blowing stagecraft of Arias and Twist.

Joey Arias is a drag diva in the Charles Busch school of female impersonation, an actor who deftly reminds audiences of movie stars and pop divas, all played with an affectionately bizarre exaggeration of femininity. In Arias’ version, the cinched waist, long pony tail emerging from a top knot, artfully wacky make-up and extremely tiny bikini are his physical manifestations.

Basil Twist is a new age puppeteer whose experiments, including his recent huge success Symphonie Fantastique, have wowed even the most jaded audiences. He filled the Abrons stage to the bursting point with some of the most imaginative scenery and puppetry ever put on a tiny stage.

Arias with a Twist begins with a fantasy alien abduction, complete with a glowing flying saucer zooming out over the audience. Arias is first seen tied to a torturous rotating device. Then she is dropped into a Garden of Eden, with serpents and colorful flora and fauna. Finally she winds up stomping wildly through a New York City she towers over. The short cabaret act which ends Arias, seems like an after thought until it spins dizzyingly and dazzlingly out of control.

There isn’t much of a story, nor any deep philosophical or emotional content, just one eye-popping scene after another. There are elements of Sci-Fi and B-movies, King Kong, Bettie Page, even an outrageously hilarious Busby Berkeley homage, all swirled into a winking Alice In Wonderland-ish storyline.

But even within this crowd of images one stands out: The Dream Music Orchestra, four wooden marionette musicians given to Twist by his maternal grandmother. They are eerie and transportingly beautiful, so much so that when they “accompany” Arias they take on a life of their own. These perfect evocations of 1930s big band instrumentalists even seem to change facial expressions under Ayuma “Poe” Saegusa’s subtle lighting and the troupe’s six expert puppeteers’ agile ministrations.

Arias doesn’t have a particularly agile stage presence, but has plenty of charisma and a worn, Billie Holiday voice that he uses skillfully. At no time did the scenic effects efface him. Even Basil Twist’s magic couldn’t overwhelm him.

Arias with a Twist is an evening of absurd fun, with no self-examination or introspection and an almost total lack of irony—and what a relief it is to spend this time on Joey Arias’ and Basil Twist’s planet, leaving the “real world” behind.

Abrons Arts Center
Henry Street Settlement
466 Grand St.
New York, NY
September 14^th – October 16^th, 2011
Tickets: theatermania.com/212-352-3101/abronsartscenter.org
More Information on Arias with a Twist: Tony@micocci.com/212-874-2030