Phillyist Reviews... The Rivals: A Drag Comedy

Note to our readers: The run of The Rivals was, unfortunately, quite short, so this review is running after the close of the show. That being said, we think it's important to let you know about the work being done by smaller theatre companies in the region so that you have an idea of what to look forward to at future productions.

Restoration plays, such as those by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, aren't produced very often. Most are, to put it bluntly, pretty stale. But once in a while, someone comes up with a novel concept to wake up the boring. This time, that someone was director Christiana Molldrem of To the Wall Productions, who decided that the best way to stage Sheridan's The Rivals would be in complete drag: boys playing girls, girls playing boys. It was either going to be brilliant or terrible. And fortunately, it tended far more toward the former.

To be sure, the space utilized (The Actor's Center at Third and New Streets) was entirely too tight for the ambitious runway staging of the piece, and the tight space made the drag makeup look even more garish than it was likely intended to be. The first five minutes of the show were practically unintelligible (Sheridan's post-Shakespearean blank verse takes a few minutes to get used to, and the lines were just plowed through), and yet the play still clocked in at... long.

But thanks to some brilliant performers who fully embraced, and then exemplified, the drag aesthetic (Emily Cheney, John Greenbaum, Allison Heishman, and Annelise Van Arsdale were all of special note), To the Wall's production overcame most of its shortcomings and proved to be a ridiculously good time. Which, after Oedipus Kings and Debbie Does Dallas – The Musical, is exactly what we've come to expect from them. Can't wait to see what they do with Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead during Fringe!