Jinkx Monsoon and Major Scales delight again at Seattle Rep
Is there a plot to this latest show from Jinkx Monsoon and Major Scales? Kind of! Does it matter? Not at all! Sometimes it's just fun to watch people have Jinkx Monsoon and Major Scales have performed their latest collaboration at Seattle Rep, "Together Again, Again!" a cabaret show set in a dystopian future in 2065, set in the era of climate disaster and alien invasion. The duo had been reunited after years of non-speaking and non-musical collaboration. The show features original music by Scales and arrangements by Monsoon, with an interpretation of "What Would You Do?" from "Cabaret" and a duet of "Hairspray" from "Hairpray." The audience was told to silence their phones and participate in a scripted show, which Monsoon encouraged. The performance was praised for its unique presentation and presentation of dialogue and storytelling.
प्रकाशित : तीन सप्ताह पहले द्वारा Gemma Wilson from The Seattle Times में Entertainment Weather
Have you ever wondered to yourself: Can anyone make an entertaining, escapist cabaret show set in a dystopian future brought about by climate disaster and alien invasion? The answer is: They sure can!
In “Together Again, Again!” the latest collaboration from song-and-dance duo Jinkx Monsoon and Major Scales at Seattle Rep, the year is 2065 and things have not been going well on planet Earth. The sun has exploded, Earth has been overtaken by gelatinous space beings, and these new overlords aren’t exactly benevolent. What’s the antidote for such a dire situation? A reunion show! In our case, a return of that dynamic, dysfunctional but loving duo Jinkx and Major, getting the band back together in their golden years, after many years apart.
Is there a plot? Kind of! Does it matter? Not at all! As Jinkx herself puts it in the show, “I’m not gonna overthink it, and you shouldn’t either.”
The gist: After “The Vaudevillians” in 2014 and “Unwrapped,” their last show at the Rep, in 2015, Jinkx and Major haven’t spoken in years, since Jinkx went solo to star in a string of straight-to-streaming sequels and gender-swapped reboots of old movies.
On a cluttered set that seems half-unpacked, Jinkx and Major sing, dance and hash out friendship, fame, getting old, selling out, romance and regret with a healthy splash of self-aware humor and one very, very specific joke about the movie “Saltburn.”
I must also shout out the only in-character, recorded preshow announcement I’ve ever liked, because in addition to telling us to silence our phones, etc., the voice of Jinkx also encouraged the audience to be loud in their reactions but with an important caveat for overly chatty 2024 audiences: “This is a scripted show, and none of you have any lines.”
The show is written by Monsoon and Scales, and features both original music by Scales and arrangements of everything from Gorillaz to a surprising and moving interpretation of “What Would You Do?” from “Cabaret” and a heartwarming duet of “(You’re) Timeless to Me" from “Hairspray.” In between, their characters bicker, reminisce and rehash old fights, including a long-simmering disagreement about their one big hit, a chart-topping number from “A Star Is Born 2: Afterbirth.”
Monsoon, her signature red hair betraying some silver roots, takes the stage with a strong Norma Desmond energy, with just a hint of “Grey Gardens” and perhaps cut with a teeny-tiny smidgen of the energy from John Mulaney’s Broadway show “Oh, Hello!” As a comedian, Monsoon could have her very own ministry of silly walks; no one struts, stomps or scoots across a stage quite like her. As her aw-shucks, second-fiddle accompanist, Scales spends most of the show sitting at the piano, as always, backing up the diva who so desperately needs to be center stage. But when he puts his foot down and insists on their partnership, it’s easy to see why the salty-sweet combination has such lasting appeal.
Don’t forget that, though Monsoon may have lip-synced for her life on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” this bird can sing, and she sometimes sings words using whatever vowels she damn well pleases, the hallmark of any true diva.
Back here in real life in 2024, she’s fresh off a New York run as Audrey in “Little Shop of Horrors,” a major guest appearance on “Doctor Who” and is returning to NYC in July for a return performance as Mama Morton in “Chicago” on Broadway and, next year, her Carnegie Hall debut.
The Bagley Wright Theater, Seattle Rep’s larger theater space, isn’t an easy venue for a show like this, where what you really want is to be sitting at a cabaret table within spitting distance of your diva. Can Monsoon fill a house this size? Absolutely, and then some. But this isn’t just a stand-and-sing kind of show, there’s a lot of dialogue and storytelling and audience addresses that feel much more suited to a space in the tradition of New York’s Cafe Carlyle, where many a diva has told her story through cabaret. In those settings, the hush that takes over a crowd when they’re transfixed by a performer speaks volumes, whereas silence is expected from a theater audience — and that’s a hard habit to break, even if you’re encouraged to be loud.
But we’re not here to overthink: It’s fun to watch people have fun, and these two seem to be having fun together. The show is both broad and detailed, silly, clever and self-referential, mentioning everything from Monsoon’s “Drag Race” wins and the tendency of local shows to appeal to audiences by just mentioning nouns that are in that city. Seattle things!
So it’s not yet 2065, and the sun has not exploded (that I know of) and gelatinous beings don’t control our days (that I know of), but frankly, we could still use an antidote to some pretty bleak years. Sometimes, watching two performers who know exactly what they’re doing, and have a great time doing it, is just what the doctor ordered.