Arias with a Twist

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Arias with a Twist, the title of this production, is a clever pun. On the one hand, it simply describes the collaboration of two justly-celebrated talents: Joey Arias, a performance artist, and the director Basil Twist, who designed the set and puppetry for this production. On another, metaphorical level, it conveys the most striking aspect of their joint work: solo songs with myriad surprises. Expect ingenious, mobile settings as Joey, played by Arias, falls from outer space to an earthly jungle, is launched on a trip by a psychedelic mushroom, and finally reaches New York. (My sketch of the itinerary is not complete.)

What carries him along can’t really be called a plot in the classic sense, for there’s no conflict to resolve. Joey is simply thrown around, physically and psychically, but lands remarkably resilient, ready to pose, sing and sway. In that way, the show is reminiscent of many a folktale about a little guy on the road who manages to survive a whole slew of adversities.

Yet the minimal story is not superfluous. It’s there chiefly to supply opportunities for extravagant settings with a plethora of moving parts. It may look like Arias is the only human on stage, but hidden puppeteers (Ben Elling, Rosa Elling, Maria Camia, Matt Leabo/Rachel Schapira, Jessica Scott and Ash Winkfield) are his frequent partners. And then there’s color, sparkle and animation produced by a host of professionals including Ayumu “Poe” Saegusa, the lighting designer, and Daniel Brodie, the designer of projections and video. The result is enchanting variety, which makes time pass quickly.

The late fashion designer Manfred Thierry Mugler dressed Arias in a memorable corset-of-sorts, with a bra and panties superimposed on it, and traditional garters to black stockings. (Kudos to Fritz Masten who executed that costume.) Wearing make-up to match, Arias can be called a drag artist, as long as you understand that the term covers more than RuPaul shows. Sure, there’s bawdy, over-the-top humor, visual as well as verbal, and the HERE Arts Center’s website cautions in italics, in bold and in red, “Arias with a Twist is a show for adults of all ages but not created for children.” Just don’t overlook the warmth and tenderness, especially in Arias’ singing. It should not be downplayed during the current culture war.

The performer on stage is old enough to have seen many such conflicts. The long battles over AIDS, basic rights and human dignity are historic but still ongoing. The gentrification of bohemian enclaves has expanded to become a general housing-affordability crisis. And that’s not a full list of the troubles. This context is so well known that Joey’s monologue doesn’t have to be explicit. It’s enough to show on stage that you can survive abduction by aliens, and we can well imagine the rest. How do you keep going under assault? Listen closely to Joey’s stream of consciousness and you’ll hear a charter member of the downtown New York avant-garde maintaining his love of life in the worst of times. Bawdy jokes serve a lot of functions in this play.

They resist even that unbeatable enemy: age. As I watched this energetic performance, I found myself thinking less about its phallic puppets than about a much smaller part of the human anatomy: those two little folds on which singing and speaking depend. As one grows older, their muscles can fatigue faster. Here’s hoping that the star of the show can maintain vocal health, almost 20 years after creating this role.

For those who missed this production in 2008 when it premiered at the HERE Arts Center, and later when it went on tour, its current revival in a limited engagement offers a chance to see what New York’s famous downtown scene was able to nurture. This year, it features mostly new puppeteers, but they’ve clearly practiced so long and hard that their timing, precision and flow are incredible. Twist has held them to a ballet standard. For that reason, it’s a shame that, at the end of the show, when they revealed their faces, we learned only their first names. How long must puppeteers be treated like the help? At the performance, there were no printed programs with the credits, only a card with a QR code and a website on it. Let’s hope that reading a digital program has or will soon become routine. There are many names there which deserve to be remembered.

Arias with a Twist (through November 1, 2026)

Tandem Otter Productions

Dorothy B. Williams Theatre, HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Avenue, in Manhattan

For tickets, call 212.647.0202 or visit https://here.app.getcuebox.com/o/CCTQ0T6B/shows/8SSHT1VL

Running time: 90 minutes without an intermission