Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Legendary downtown drag queens relive past glories, gloriously: TAYLOR MAC at the Delacorte, JOEY ARIAS at HERE

• By drediman
• September 24, 2026
• No Comments

Over the past week or so, I had the great privilege of basking in the presence of a pair of legendary downtown drag queens, both of whom have returned to past works, to glorious effect. Here are my thoughts on recent performances by Taylor Mac, who relived portions of their epic song cycle Bark of Millions with frequent collaborator Matt Ray at the Delacorte Theater, as well Joey Arias, who along with master puppeteer, have remounted their seminal production of Arias with a Twist.

TAYLOR MAC & MATT RAY: SONGS FROM BARK OF MILLIONS
Joe’s Pub at the Delacorte Theatre
Closed

This past weekend for three performances only, Taylor Mac and Matt Ray reunited to perform Songs from Bark of Millions (RECOMMENDED) alongside a fabulously motley company of like-minded performers, collectively known as the Plethora. The free concerts arrived courtesy of Joe’s Pub, which here ventured uptown to present Mac, Ray, and company at the sizable Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Featuring music by Ray and lyrics and direction by Mac — as well as eye-popping costumes by Machine Dazzle — the organically rambling show is essentially a truncated version of Bark of Millions (I saw a full production of it back in 2024 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music), an epic 50-song collection chronicles queer history, loosely profiling key forebears from Sappho to Oscar Wilde. Although the performance was a cut version of the complete song cycle, the entire affair provided a relatively comprehensive overview of the still-evolving work, taking up a good amount of time and clocking in at around two-and-a-half hours sans intermission. Over the course of the show, each member of the Plethora had a chance to shine. And collectively, the sense of community they created was palpable and infectious. Among the many highlights included rousing performances from the likes of renowned music theater-maker Heather Christian (Oratorio for Living Things, Animal Wisdom) and Broadway legend André De Shields (Cats the Jellicle Ball, Hadestown). Overall, Songs from Bark of Millions was joyous and defiant, made all the more special by the unique magic of being at the Delacorte — especially potent when the weather cooperates, as it did on the comfortably mild night I attended.

JOEY ARIAS & BASIL TWIST: ARIAS WITH A TWIST
HERE
Through November 1

This fall, theater fans are also being treated to the remount of one of HERE’s most beloved productions, Arias with a Twist (HIGHY RECOMMENDED), which runs through to the beginning of November. When I first saw the show nearly two decades ago, my mind was blown by this unlikely but sublime collaboration between legendary downtown drag queen Joey Arias and master puppeteer Basil Twist. In short, time hasn’t dimmed the madcap ingenuity of this fever dream of a show. In equal parts nightclub act and surreal puppet show, it’s a minor miracle that such a spectacle can occur in a space as intimate and tiny as HERE’s subterranean Dorothy B. Williams Theatre. The show follows Arias through a number of elaborate set pieces concocted by Twist — namely being abducted and probed by aliens, crash landing on a lush jungle planet, falling into a hallucinatory fever dream where she cavorts with demons, and ultimately stomping through the streets of New York to make it in time for her Busby Berkeley-esque cabaret act. Twist’s brilliant design and puppetry — largely unchanged from the original run — continues to impress me with their inventiveness and variety, conjuring layers and an alluring perception of depth at every turn. Wittily drawing from various eras of popular culture, each vista is marked by a distinctive visual vocabulary. In each scene, Arias seduces with her signature multi-octave crooning, her gutsy song stylings strongly reminiscent of Billie Holiday throughout. And in terms of banter, the playful yet naughty Arias — whose look Betty Page look is accentuated by sexy costumes by Mugler — is a memorable blend of coquettishness and outrageous hyper-sexuality.