Theater review by Adam Feldman
The titular heroine of Petite Rouge dances with wolves aplenty in Company XIV’s latest neoburlesque spectacle, but don’t worry for her safety: She’s as voracious a predator as any of them. Director-choreographer Austin McCormick and his Brooklyn company have a penchant for twisting classic children’s stories into naughty ones for adults, fashioning baroque extravaganzas out of such tales as the Nutcracker, Cinderella, Snow White and Alice in Wonderland. This latest pageant gives a decadent spin to the adventures of Little Red Riding Hood through a decadent mélange of slinky dance, explosive live singing and suggestive circus acts. This little lady knows her way around a basket.
Petite Rouge | Photograph: Courtesy Deneka Peniston
Like all Company XIV shows, Petite Rouge unfolds as a series of vignettes performed by a troupe of versatile performers in outrageous costumes by Zane Pihlström, who has also designed the louche, ruched set in a panhistorically rococo spirit. The aesthetic is femme-forward and playfully queer-flavored; the men may have lupine masks on their heads, but they are also often dolled out in corsets and heels (and, in one case, tasseled pasties on each buttock). Among the attractions provided by the men are a triple aerial act, a toe dance and a comical turn by PhillVonAwesome, in mask, as Petite Rouge’s grandma.
Related: See more photos from Petite Rouge.
Petite Rouge | Photograph: Courtesy Deneka Peniston
Although most of the dancers are male, however, it is women who carry the night. These include three remarkable vocalists: the bluesy Lindsay Rose, who cuts an imposing figure in sequins and a feathered headdress; the seductive soprano Syrena, whose neovaudevillian specialty spot finds her balancing large objects on her head while belly dancing (minus the belly); and the quite astounding Pepper Solana, a tattooed toughie whose range can climb to Yma Sumac peaks. But it falls to the lithely athletic Cara Seymour, as Petite Rouge, to carry the show, and she does so with impressive grace and endurance—especially in the orgiastic sequences that end the first act, when Little Red proves able and willing to take all comers. McCormick’s version of the story is based on Charles Perrault’s 1697 account, which ends with the wolf making a meal out of our heroine, so don’t expect a hunter to come to her last-minute rescue. But in this telling, she doesn’t need one: There’s no question who here is the leader of the pack.
Petite Rouge. Théâtre XIV (Off Broadway). By Austin McCormick. With Cara Seymour, Pepper Solana, Lindsay Rose, Shawn Lesniak, Syrena, PhillVonAwesome. Running time: 2hrs 10mins. One intermission.
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Petite Rouge | Photograph: Courtesy Deneka Peniston
