Joey Arias

Arias with a Twist

September 24, 2026

"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. [more]

Saloons: Some Enchanted Evenings

May 14, 2016

Cabaret has always been a mixed bag. The golden age is gone. However, in today's schizo world of nightclubs, things are looking pretty good. It is a milieu unique in the entertainment industry. And, it continues to reinvent itself. The late cabaret critic Martin Schaeffer wrote in Back Stage in 1993,“There cannot be a better night of classic American music than a Bobby Short gig at The Carlyle.” He was right; especially if you're a purist of the Great American Songbook. [more]

Sisters’ Follies: Between Two Worlds

October 20, 2015

With a cast led by downtown icons Joey Arias and Julie Atlas Muz, "Sisters’ Follies" includes life size puppets, flying ghosts, music and dance, topless performances, talking masks, and spectacular recreations of their most famous productions. When we first meet them, they are ghosts flying about the stage in long white diaphanous gowns glad to be back in their theater. They then sing a duet of Irving Berlin’s “Sisters” with appropriately new ribald lyrics. From their clever banter, we discover that Alice (Arias) was an actress and Irene (Muz) a dancer who were continually warring over everything from billing to which of them received more flowers to their legacies. Self-centered Alice, the older sister, is always cool and collected while Irene, who worships her even though she always seems to get the short end of the stick, is more passionate and temperamental. Today Irene is remembered as having founded the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while the acting school they both founded, The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, is also very much alive. [more]