An intergenerational cast of queer artists goes beyond camp in an unlikely revival of Galas, Charles Ludlam’s 1983 biography of fictional opera legend Maria Magdalena Galas, a thinly veiled but richly coiffed stand-in for Maria Callas. And filling Ludlam’s high heels in the title role is a bona fide diva: the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, a vision in fashion designer Jackson Wiederhoeft's elegant period creations. He is even more stunning vocally—whereas Ludlam lip-synched his arias, Costanzo sings them live and in Callas's register—and he never plays this ambitious and temperamental prima donna for easy laughs.
Galas | Photograph: Courtesy Nina Westervelt
Not that Eric Ting’s open-air revival at Little Island isn't funny. As Galas's singer-turned-servant-turned-sage Bruna Lina Rasta, perennial scene-stealer Mary Testa can milk mundane stage business like dusting for grand giggles. Performance artist Carmelita Tropicana is a hoot as Galas's lusty husband-manager Giovanni Baptista Mercanteggini. And there's a delicious game of one-upmanship between Galas and the oversexed Pope Sixtus the Seventh (Samora la Perdida, looking fierce in robes by Hahnji Jang, who designed everyone’s costumes but Costanzo’s). It's all staged energetically on Mimi Lien's spare but effective set, a runway with the lady of the hour's name in lights atop a column.
Galas | Photograph: Courtesy Nina Westervelt
Yet longueurs creep in as Galas falls apart and begins losing her voice and her billionaire lover. The broad performances swirling around Costanzo's straight one don't always land, and Ludlam’s script refuses to commit to a consistent tone; subtitled A Modern Tragedy, it is a sometimes unsteady combination of over-the-top comedy and bittersweet musings on the confinements of fame and the spell that tragic divas cast in queer culture. It is telling that Galas's final exit, breathtakingly choreographed in front of a billowing curtain, leaves you choking—not cracking—up.
Galas | Photograph: Courtesy Nina Westervelt
But it’s something of a triumph that Galas is being done at all. Aside from the late comedy The Mystery of Irma Vep, most of the gender- and genre-bending shows created by Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company are rarely performed; they were custom-made for the auteur himself and dragtag accomplices like his longtime partner Everett Quinton. Both of those men are now gone, but Ting and his cohorts have resurrected part of their history and managed to make much of it sing. Brava.
Galas. Little Island (Off Broadway). By Charles Ludlam. Directed by Eric Ting. Starring Anthony Roth Costanzo, Carmelita Tropicana, Mary Testa, Samora la Perdida, Caleb Eberhart, Erin Markey. Running time: 1hr 45mins. No intermission.
Follow Raven Snook on X: @ravensnook
Follow Raven Snook on Instagram: @ravensnook
Follow Time Out Theater on Twitter: @TimeOutTheater
Keep up with the latest news and reviews on our Time Out Theater Facebook page