Barbarians Destroy Broadway

Comments (0) By Shana Nys Dambrot Thursday, Apr 12 2012

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REDCAT: Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater

631 W. Second St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Downtown

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When most people think about musical theater, even fans of the genre land somewhere on the continuum of Les Miserables, Fela! and Smash. Fair warning: My Barbarian: Post-Paradise, Aren't You Sorry Now?is in no way that kind of musical. Known for invading art galleries and alternative exhibition spaces with a unique interdisciplinary approach to performance and installation, My Barbarian (the artists Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon and Alexandro Segade) regularly demand audience participation in their partly improvised and happenings-inspired experiential exhibitions and residency programs. Their work is known for being very physical, tactile and unpredictable; and for combining current events with art and world history in a way that upends expectations and involves the viewers emotionally and bodily in its content. Currently immersed in a long-term, internationally workshopped pursuit known as Post-Living Ante-Action Theater, My Barbarian has been working with a set of principles (Estrangement, Indistinction, Suspension of Beliefs, a Mandate to Participate, and Inspirational Critique) that don't exactly read like a Broadway Playbill. But while not exactly an obvious direction, the evolution of this loose-change, wide-net aesthetic to a proper stage show promises a daring, politically charged, socially progressive romp through history from ancient Greece to war-torn Europe to the Obama White House — but with singing, dancing, costumes, choreography. Avant-garde, definitely. Civilized, maybe. REDCAT, 631 W 2Second St., dwntwn.; Sat., April 14, 8:30 p.m. & Sun., April 15, 7 p.m.; $10-20. (213) 237-2800, redcat.org.
Sat., April 14, 8:30 p.m.; Sun., April 15, 7 p.m., 2012