Review: Kinsey Sicks in ''Electile Dysfunction''
The most current Kinsey Sicks' political parody gets old fast
Kinsey Sicks
(Photo by Erez Ben Or)
Have you tired of the Republican presidential circus? If not, then here’s to the Santorum surge — and the Kinsey Sicks. If Santorum — and especially Herman Cain or Michele Bachmann — can be plausible candidates for president, even if just for a few weeks, then why not a ”dragapella beautyshop quartet”? That, anyway, is the jokey premise behind Electile Dysfunction: The Kinsey Sicks for President!, now in a world premiere production at Theater J, which commissioned the piece. The show explores the singing drag queen quartet’s platforms — and I don’t just mean their heels — as well as their shady pasts through skit and song parodies. The Sicks, as it turns out, don’t even last more than an hour as presidential material, and end the show as bleached-blond Fox News hosts and commentators.
It’s all a funny parody of a current political climate that is a funny parody all its own. But if the joke of real-life presidential politics has run its course for you, you’ll grow tired of the Sicks’ nearly two-hour long antics, too. Irwin Keller as the mother-hen Winnie and Jeff Manabat as the glamour-puss Trixie, especially, do their best to keep you engaged, pumping the crowd for material and leading song parodies, most winningly ”We Arm The World” and ”Love Child.” But those songs come around the halfway mark of the show, making it peak early. By show’s end, their new ideas are running as low as those of the Republicans they spoof. By encore time, the quartet — which also includes the crass Rachel (Ben Schatz) and sassy Trampolina (Spencer Brown) – resorts to scouting out a male member of the audience to haul on stage for a lap dance and serenade.
It’s entertaining, sure, but like Newt Gingrich, it’s past its prime.
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