Photo by Tableau Productions
Reviewed by Ali MacLean
The Cinegrill Theater in The Hollywood Roosevelt
Through December
Nowadays, everyone wants an ‘experience. ’People will pay top dollar to dive into a life-sized pool of ice cream sprinkles. Thousands flocked to see a projection of Van Gogh’s art, rather than the real thing in the museum. No one goes out to dinner anymore unless it includes a photo op or an escape room. In an era where every local bar seems to have fire-breathing girls and contortionists in silks, it’s hard to call yourself a creator of a seductive immersive show and create anything surprising. The new show at the Hollywood Roosevelt, Down the Rabbit Hole, gives it a go.
Down the Rabbit Hole: a rather curious cabaret is an immersive dance experience, presented by Tableau Productions. The show is billed as a ‘seductive escape that strips away at reality’ — that reality being the site of the first Oscars, and, more recently, a popular spot for skinny dipping for the inebriated indie sleaze crowd.
The theme of Down the Rabbit Hole combines Lewis Carroll’s curious child and the hedonism involved in searching for a glamorous life in Hollywood. Alice’s trip and fall through Wonderland is narrated by an actress (Sharon Ferguson) decked out in feathers. It isn’t apparent until later that she is the Cheshire Cat. Her interstitial conversations are filled with Cheshire-like platitudes and puns, but the mystery is not so much what she is saying, but why she needs to say it at all. The dance numbers are paired with excellent projection design, on par with what you’d see at any arena rock show. The scrims reveal clues as to where Alice is in her journey. This makes narration superfluous and created a noticeable lag in the show.
Alice’s journey starts with her looking dreamily at a bus ticket to Hollywood. The trip is less a one-way express to Wonderland, and more of a seedy hellscape full of pitfalls for those who seek fame and fortune. This allows for some clever parallels: a coke addicted White Rabbit who makes Donnie Darko look like the Easter Bunny; Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee as two bumbling influencer types who obsessively selfie-d to toxic levels; a slinky, supple Caterpillar who, after a hit off her pipe, morphed morphs into a limber Bond girl; a hedonistic tea party ended with the Dormouse taking a mad spin in a swing hung from the ceiling.
The show often bends toward a dark tone. The Red Queen’s unhinged entrance (a magnetic Ilanya Monet) morphs into a Lynchian Sub-Dom dance with Alice to the tune of Nine Inch Nails’ Closer. The writhing, coked-out, crazed bunny (Kyra Cole) is more Marilyn Manson than Marilyn Monroe.
However, the show is best during lighter numbers — for example, Alice (performed by a wide-eyed Natalya Z) joins the Flowers doing the hustle as their pastoral garden became a Studio 54 Disco club. Another highlight has Alice voguing while getting a glam makeover from some playing card stylists to the tune of Bowie’s Fashion.
Directed by Tracy Phillips, the show is enhanced by the attention to detail around the stage. Lewis Carroll’s writing desk with sketches of rabbits, enormous red roses, a life-sized psychedelic toadstool and hookah, and other set pieces are scattered around the small theater. Cathy Cooper’s costumes are especially inspired. There is also some excellent choreography — a scene with barn doors opening and closing, exposing hands, feet and legs, very Bob Fosse. Other dancers preen with grotesque glee, in moves reminiscent of Julia Cheng’s recent Cabaret choreo. The choreography (Tracy Phillips and cast) also owes a lot to Lady Gaga’s jerky puppet-like moves, featured in her current tour. Three particular back-up dancers (Liv Mia, Mia Selano, Christian Deshautelle) are standouts — provoking with lascivious moves, while still nailing the choreography with precision and attitude.
A word of warning. If you don’t like interactive experiences, beware. The dancers use of every inch of the theater space, crawling on floors, railings, armrests, chairs, and laps. This is all part of the hedonism and fun, but responses vary, depending on how you feel about getting up close and personal with the cast. To some, this interactive burlesque could be considered racy and risqué. To others, as tame as Gypsy Rose Lee’s bump and grind, depending on proclivities. All in all, lands near the Rocky Horror level of titillating.
Alice and crew plunge the audience into voyeurism and desire for close to two hours, then release the crowd back into the chaos of Hollywood Boulevard on a Saturday night: Bridge and Tunnel types craning their necks, security guards shoving to protect some VIP, and homeless sprawled across the sidewalk stars of Vin Diesel and Hugh Hefner. Very Hollywood.
The Cinegrill Theater in The Hollywood Roosevelt, 7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Plays every other Saturday at 8:30 pm through December. https://www.thehollywoodroosevelt.com/events/los-angeles/down-the-rabbit-hole
