Four Stars **** Highly recommended, sort of!
Do you remember the days in elementary school when the teacher put two grades on your English paper: the top one for the quality of the ideas and the bottom one for the grammar and spelling? Watching the “Dark Side of the Boob” was reminiscent of this. What follows is a tale of two reviews: the exceptional content of a lovingly designed and choreographed show versus a myriad of technological flaws that nearly sabotage the digital production.
Let’s start with the high points. “Dark Side of the Boob” by Subversion Productions is one of the best shows of the year! Packed full of creative and fun imagery, it is a kaleidoscope of sequences inspired by the 1938 version of “A Wizard of Oz” as televised over the “boob tube.” This reconceptualization using vintage TV film footage takes the original syrupy yet somewhat frightening tale and explores the motivations and ambitions of each of the characters. Today’s performers draw out their forerunners via a sexy, provocative, and entertaining burlesque show strung together in separate vignettes, such as those featuring Dorothy, the scarecrow, the tin man, the cowardly lion, and, of course, the wizard himself. We see a scarecrow that actually scares people, a tin man with a heart, a lion that is not cowardly, a girl not as innocent as she may initially seem to be, and ah, the wizard! The modern reboot can boast of the sheer acting ability of all the performers, buttressed by intriguing costuming and gorgeous makeup and hairstyles.
Whereas the transition from black and white to color in the course of the original movie was considered revolutionary for its day, today’s gorgeous video effects and superb editing are equally memorable. Scenes of good and bad witches, the yellow brick road, and other exemplars taken from the 1938 film are integrated and superimposed on the action. This cleverly twisted revamp can boast of music from Pink Floyd, most notably “The Dark Side of the Moon”, which is nicely interwoven throughout the entire presentation. The music serves to accentuate the gestures and movements of each of the characters, with the video perfectly timed to transport us from one scene to the next and from one stage effect to the next.
When we see how all of the characters reveal a darker yet beguiling side to each of them, their vulnerability is not lost upon the audience, for this is delightful and scary at the same time. What a brilliantly executed and spectacular concept! Credit for this idea must go to Jaq Seifert, who is also the executive director of Subversion Productions. The show has been devised by Ariel Etana Triufo and the ensemble, with video design, animations and sound design by Parker Langverd.
Yet the dark side of technology also reared his ugly head during Wednesday night’s performance. In short, there were far too many glitches when dealing with the internet.
The first problem was that once the virtual lobby on Google Meet ended, we were supposed to see the streaming video on YouTube. But we had to wait over twenty minutes before the video was ready to watch. The second problem was worse: namely, the video stream on YouTube was separate from the audio stream. We, the audience, were given links to both streams in the Google Meet chat, and it was our job to join them together at just the right moment. There was supposed to be a 10-second countdown which, for some unknown reason, I never received. Perhaps I expected to hear somebody counting off, but when I failed to hear anything, I started the audio too soon. Later I learned I should have downloaded the audio track first before combining the streams. But once I downloaded it, the timing was off between the picture and the sound. This affected not just me but all of us.
The producer then sent us the message: “Sorry, everyone. We are pausing and rewinding, so the audio and video sync up.” The audience was instructed to readjust the audio to time code 10:15. This introduced two problems for my audio feed. First, my audio display allowed me only the choice of 10:06 or 10:40. (Don’t ask me why!) Add to this, YouTube displayed the time code for the entire performance as being in minus rather than plus, with the whole video stream starting at -2:26: 02 (with 0:00 in the stream being at the very end). So now I had to quickly figure out where the plus 10:15 came in. This became a math problem, such that I had to establish where in the stream the minus corresponded with the plus. I decided that the word “Play” in the video should coincide with time code 0:00 for the show. But something was still amiss.
After a lot of struggle, I finally did marry the video and audio properly and could enjoy the delightful performance! But then there was the final glitch. At exactly 10:30 p.m., the video suddenly cut out, and I received an error message from YouTube: “This video is unavailable.” This was with the last five minutes to go, plus an additional 4:47 to the end of the stream. The good part was that I could catch most of the remaining frames by moving my pointer across the timecode bar. I don’t think I missed much, because this did not seem to be the type of story that culminated in a surprise ending. But I would have liked to have seen the rest. That said, the downloaded audio track continued. How discombobulated everything was; it was so sad! I felt bad for the cast and crew.
Considering the dark themes inherent to this enhancement of the “Wizard of Oz”, I completely understand the goal of rolling out the show for Halloween. But after watching it, I did not feel that it needed to be rushed to its audience. The warping of everyday reality is an all-too-common occurrence today and need not be the province of All Hallows Eve or “once in a blue moon.” Basically, the “Dark Side of the Boob” is so well done that it can hold its own no matter when it is released to the public. New Year’s Eve might even be a more suitable occasion. Hopefully the show will be redone digitally ASAP so as to make viewing much easier—and a lot less work for the audience—considering that the performance is far too good to miss. That said, see it right now anyway. It’s a captivating, if not also haunting, experience you won’t soon forget!
“Dark Side of the Boob: A Wizard of Oz Burlesque Experience” is playing through Sunday, November 1, 2020. The digital/virtual lobby on Google Meet opens at 8:00 p.m. each evening, to be followed by the show, set to begin at 9:00 p.m. on YouTube streaming video.
Regular tickets are $20 each. If you’re watching with your “COVID-circle”, please help cover the costs of production by adding an extra $5 per person viewing with you!
For more information or to buy tickets, please go to: https://www.subversionproductions.com/darkside
To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Dark Side of the Boob: A Wizard of Oz Experience”
Hi Julia! Thank you so much for your review! We TOTALLY agree on the technical issues we had that first night. Working in this new digital format certainly comes with its challenges! We learned from what happened that first night and have since reworked the audio/video timing, and last night went MUCH better. For example, there is now a two minute countdown to when to start the audio, and we’ve got time stamps occurring throughout the piece to allow audience members to double check that they are at the right moment.
That being said, part of the love of Dark Side of Oz, the cult combination of putting Dark Side of the Moon to The Wizard of Oz, is starting the audio and the visuals together and seeing what happens. There’s even differences of opinions as to where you start Dark Side of the Moon (the second roar? the third?), and each one shows a different show almost. Now, we don’t recommend this for our show, as our performers and video editors worked super hard to make sure they sync up with what we created. But overall we hope folks enjoy the experience regardless of what happens!
Thanks again for reviewing, we always appreciate Around the Town seeing our shows, and be on the lookout for this show happening again!