RED TIDE BLOOMING

A freak-show musical where classic Mermaid Parade antics swim alongside a collective creative visualization of Armageddon in the murky waters of gentrification and cultural homogenization.

• PS122’s first-ever recipient of the Ethyl Eichelberger Award for artistic excellence,
• Show Credits:  Written and Directed by Taylor Mac; choreography by Julie Atlas Muz; puppets by Basil Twist; scenic Design by Derrick Little; costumes and makeup by Steven Menendez, and lighting design by Garin Marschall.
• Featuring Todd D’Amour, Bridget Everett, James Tigger Ferguson, Laryssa Husiak, Stacie Karpen, Bianca Leigh, Taylor Mac, Dirty Martini, Steven Menendez, Scotty The Blue Bunny, Ruby Lynn Reyner, Suzi Takahashi, and Layard Thompson.

Excerpt:

We are now underwater.  Slavaskia enters.  She explores her new environment.  One by one the ensemble enter carrying puppets who are the BLUE HAIRED LADIES that make the ocean waves.  

SLAVASKIA (sings)

I CAME BEFORE YOU

PRIOR TO ALL YOUR JOYS

AHEAD OF YOUR THOUGHTS AND CARES

I CAME BEFORE YOU

WE DANCED THESE STREETS TO GROUND

WE SWAM THIS OCEAN BROWN

WE TRANCED THE PEOPLE WITH

TRADITIONS TURNED ‘ROUND

BROKE THROUGH THE BARRICADES

WE MADE THE PEOPLE LAUGH

JIGGLING VITAL ORGANS

WE CRACKED THE WORLD IN HALF

TURNED THOUGHTS INSIDE OUT

GAVE NEW PERSPECTIVES

VANQUISHED SELF-CONSCIOUS DOUBT

WHEN WE CAME BEFORE YOU

I WAS THE RAGING STAR

SOON A DEAD DISCOVERY

NAMED AFTER A COMPANY

SELLING SELLING

BUT I CAME BEFORE YOU

YOU’RE JUST A COPY

A WATERED DOWN PIECE OF ME

MY DEAD MEMORIES

BLUE HAIRED LADIES (sing)  

BENEATH THE SURFACE OF MY DRINK I’M SWIMMING

DWINDLING DOWN TO,

DWINDLING DOWN TO NOTHING

BENEATH THE SURFACE OF MY DRINK I’M FLOATING

DWINDLING DOWN,

DWINDLING DOWN

TO I AGREES

BLUE HAIRED LADY REGINA (speaks)

Regina Carlson.  I moved to the floating landfill in 1952.  Sprawled out in a cold-water flat on the lower east side, each Sunday we held great big macrobiotic pot-luck diners.  Every week, dozens of people from all walks of life would show up full of ideas and flirtations.  Regina Carlson.

BLUE HARIED LADY SABRINA (speaks)

Sabrina Rustin.  It seems nowadays it is a revolutionary act to leave your house when you’re old or ugly.  This does not surprise me, as in my youth acts of bravery were simple gestures as well:  a black man holding a white woman’s hand on the street, or two me kissing in a parked car.  Sabrina Rustin.

BLUE HAIRED LADY ETHYL (speaks)

Ethyl Crisp.  Many of my generation look back on our youth and claim, “We changed the world!”  I wouldn’t say we changed it so much, but to the chagrin of every downtown theater institution, we did invent glitter.  Sprinkling a little glamour and beauty into the wrinkles of our floorboards and ourselves.  When you think about it, the invention of glitter is not too shabby an accomplishment.  Ethyl Crisp.

The Blue Haired Ladies begin to fade away.

SLAVASKIA (sings)

BUT HERE STILL I FADE AWAY

INTO SOLICITOUS WANDERING

ALL THAT WE HAD TO SAY

TURNED BARGAINING CHIPS OF LET ME STAY

AND BROKEN STATUS NEON SIGNS

BLINKING

REMEMBER

PLEASE REMEMBER

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