Ginger Twinsies

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Kevin Zak’s Ginger Twinsies now at the Orpheum Theatre is an outrageous, campy gay stage parody of the 1998 Lindsay Lohan (a true redhead) remake of The Parent Trap in which she played fraternal twins, directed by rom-com specialist Nancy Meyers. Much of the humor is based on name dropping of pop culture, film, stage and television lore with “appearances” by Vanessa Redgrave, Demi Moore, Shirley MacLaine, Julianne Moore and Jessica Lee Curtis as well as Ms. Meyers herself. A great many gags come from the Harry Potter movies as well as Curtis in Freaky Friday and a plug for her new Freakier Friday opening on August 1. You don’t have to know The Parent Trap to enjoy the jokes as much of the humor is visual but it helps set up the premise. The laughs come once a minute but not all of them land as successfully as they are meant to.

Of course, part of the fun is that the two twins here played by Russell Daniels as Annie James and Aneesa Folds as Hallie Parker don’t look anything alike, Daniels being white and Folds being Black. However, except for one character recognizing that “Annie” is masquerading as “Hallie” it is never brought up, more’s the pity as it might have led to some hilarious racial gags (or is that too hot right now?) The other over-the-top gimmick is that many of the characters are played in drag: Annie James is played by plus-sized Russell Daniels, fiancée Meredith Blake is played by an impossibly hammy Phillip Taratula while Jimmy Ray Bennett, mainly as the James’ servant Martin as well as Annie’s grandfather, and Mitch Wood each play a series of characters both male and female.

Ginger Twinsies stays close to the plot of the remake of The Parent Trap while also making it a traditional stage farce with many slamming doors. And as much of the sexual humor is R-rated, it is more for adults who recall the two films (including the first one with Hayley Mills) than teens just discovering it. Redheaded teenagers American Annie James and British Hallie Parker meet at “Camp Walden for Gworls” in 1998. After some of their hijinks go too far causing them to be sent to the Isolation Cabin, they discover that they are actually twins separated at birth: when their parents divorced 11 years before, Napa Valley winegrower Nick Parker took Annie to live with him and London-based wedding gown designer Elizabeth James took Hallie to live with her, never telling either girl that she was a twin or that her other parent was alive and well.

Desperate to meet their other parent, they decide that at the end of the summer they will switch places. Of course, they have to get their act together which means Hallie has to have her hair cut and her ears pierced. When Annie gets to Napa Valley, she discovers that Nick is just about to announce his engagement to gold-digger Meredith Blake, his latest publicist, and she sends out a desperate call to Hallie in London to get to California with their mother ASAP. Of course, Elizabeth and Nick still have feelings for each other and as they have both kept their looks, they are ripe to fall into the parent trap. Annie and Hallie just have to orchestrate it with Meredith trying to foil them at every turn.

In campy parody fashion, the show has references galore to both pop culture and gay references: movie quotes include Robert De Niro in Mean Streets, Brie Larsen in Room, Jamie Lee Curtis in Freaky Friday, Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins, Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl, Lindsay Lohan in Life Size, Jude Law in The Holiday, etc. Stage references include the bullet scene in Hamilton, Petula Clark in Sunset Boulevard, Julianne Moore in the film version of Dear Evan Hansen, Idina Menzel in Redwood, and Imelda Staunton in Guys and Dolls. Television offers Zaks Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy and more recently John Fugelsang and Daisy Fuentes in America’s Funniest Home Videos and the strawberry scene in The Last of Us. If you wouldn’t recognize these iconic moments – or don’t care for namedropping, then this show probably isn’t for you, but if you do, you will have a terrific time.

Directed by playwright Zaks whose bio in the program is as much a parody as the show, the talented cast make the most of their opportunities with all of the actors playing more than one role. As foul-mouth Hallie Parker, Aneesa Folds and Russell Daniels as demure Annie James make a fine team playing off of each other. Lakisha May is quite glamorous as well as unflappable (as was both Maureen O’Hara and Natasha Richardson in the two films) as their mother Elizabeth James. Matthew Wilkas is hilariously dim as the buff Nick Parker with decided sexual proclivities. As butler Martin, British grandfather, camp counselor Marva, Sr., and others, Jimmy Ray Bennett changes gender as well as role as fast as you can snap your fingers. Grace Reiter has a fine time as Chessy, the wise housekeeper for the Parker family, getting all of her laughs all of the time. As the over-the-top Meredith Blake, Phillip Taratula steals every scene he is in. Mitch Wood reappears in so many roles (nine named), both male and female, that this is one chameleon of an actor.

The design team has been chosen with care and is in on the jokes. Beowulf Boritt’s flat painted sets are right in keeping with the parody while Wilberth Gonzalez’s costumes for both the men and women – and drag queens – add to the hilarity. Bradley King’s lighting creates many moods while the hair, wig and makeup design of Krystal Balleza and Will Vicari allow the actors to switch genders with ease.

Following on the heels of the long-running, recently shuttered Titanique, Ginger Twinsies skewers a beloved movie with its comic take on the more exaggerated moments of a popular genre, here  teen movies and contemporary rom-coms.  The play introduces a new comic voice in Kevin Zak who can be expected to follow this up with another parody real soon. The cast may find themselves defined by these iconic roles in the near future.

Ginger Twinsies (through October 25, 2025)

Orpheum Theatre, 126 Second Avenue at 8^th Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit http://www.gingertwinsies.com/tickets-faqs

Running time: 85 minutes without an intermission