Rayn: An Electronic Burlesque Experience 

Reviewed by Mayank Keshaviah 
Thymele Arts (Hollywood Fringe Festival) 
Extended through July 7 

RECOMMENDED 

One of the more recent staples of both the Hollywood Fringe Festival and L.A. theater in general has been immersive theater. Creating that style of a visceral experience for the audience is one of the highlights of Elena Rayn’s show, which almost feels like a sexualized yoga retreat: lots of positive energy and vibrations, accompanied by philosophical musings on happiness, reality, and life…and a burlesque striptease.

It’s apropos, then, that Rayn debuts her self-described “one-woman psychedelic electro-opera” on International Whores’ Day (yes, it’s a real thing — google it). The storyline of this opera — a muse coming to Earth to help a struggling male musician — is much more clearly detailed on the show’s Fringe webpage than it is in the performance. Yet the loss of plot particulars hardly detracts from the experience, because the allure of the show is a talented singer and burlesque dancer performing an intimate concert in an atmospheric setting while showcasing the music from her promising debut album.

Rayn’s look might best be described as Rainbow Brite meets Electric Daisy Carnival. Her sound, on the other hand, is harder to pin down, at least for those of us not deeply into the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) genre. For this listener, her breathy and soulfully resonant vocal quality was reminiscent of a younger Madonna, and her style of layering such vocals over dance tracks specifically recalled the Ray of Light album. The songs on Rayn’s debut album range from a lush ballad set to a gentle groove track in “Amazing,” to the hypnotic, driving beats of “Body Parts” and “Big Magic,” to the plaintive sultriness of “Devil In The Dark.”

Despite the minimal staging (typical of Fringe shows), a small rehearsal room is transformed by lighting, music, and most of all Rayn’s energy into a meditative space. One of the ways she harnesses this energy is in the alley staging of the show, in which audience members can look at one another even as they watch Rayn perform. Her sensual interactions with audience members throughout (after explicitly asking for consent at the top of the show), are, oddly, both voyeuristic and community building because Rayn enthusiastically and generously interacts with everyone in the room. At one point, she even plays a harmonium and leads the group in chanting “Om.”

While the show differs from many of the fully immersive theater pieces increasingly cropping up at the Fringe, its experiential interactivity will nonetheless appeal to smartphone/Internet/videogame users looking to detox from virtual overload and return to “real” human experiences in their entertainment, along with a healthy dose of sensuality.

Thymele Arts – Kansas Room, 5481 Santa Monica Blvd., East Hollywood; through July 7. https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/5405. Running time: 45 minutes. NOTE: Includes full frontal nudity.