Media Archive

There is something exquisitely beautiful about a conventionally attractive woman being unconventionally, relentlessly, fearlessly strange in society’s general direction into perpetuity.

The script and choreography embodied the textures and lyricism of the music.

A Ride on the Irish Cream has a manic absurdist bent but, like most satisfying plays, no matter how seemingly ridiculous, it is grounded in reality.

Ms. Markey has developed a cult following as an alt-cabaret star with swaggering confidence and off-kilter sense of humor. Her shows are rooted in her life, often mixing jokes and songs with stories about her childhood and her relationship with her Midwestern family.

“It acknowledges the murky space of how I understand gender,” Markey says. “It dismisses a binary, because a pontoon boat is not the opposite of a horse, and a girl is not the opposite of a boy. Being both is just being both—or all of it.”

If physical rigor is the measure of mettle in a relationship, then actor/performance artists Becca Blackwell and Erin Markey have put themselves through the paces.

The musical, featuring a first-rate band led by Emily Bate, belongs to Erin Markey: her hair is chic as well, a beauty queen’s half up cascading curls. 

The carnal heart pulsing within prison-bar ribs: Maddy Costa responds to Rachel Mars’ Our Carnal Hearts.

The intimate, quirky play merges life’s ordinary travails with upbeat pop tunes, creating an unexpected sense of comfort while underscoring the truth that we live in a world where pain is inevitable and that there’s not much we can do but take solace in small moments of common-sense connection.

Part storytelling, part musical, and always theatrical, this cabaret-style song cycle boldly goes where many of us don’t really want to go and makes the subject of death less daunting than you might think.