A Ride on the Irish Cream
About the show
Abrons Arts Center presents the world premiere of a darkly psychedelic story with songs set in a fantastical Michigan backyard on a cold blue river. More…
A live band and original score become the space for the thrills and terrors of a relationship between Reagan, a vainglorious self-made girl, and Irish Cream, her family's pontoon boat/horse. They are in love, but when their relationship is tested by dust ruffles, sex for money, severe T-storms, and a secret cellar, the only way to stay together is to remember all the parts of themselves their bodies tried to forget.
"Incredibly funny and heartfelt, 'A Ride on the Irish Cream' is a show that is not always clear in it’s plot, but washes wonderfully over you. It’s a ride, and if you give yourself over to it, it’s an incredible one...What Markey captures so brilliantly in this piece is the emotional journey of childhood...It's a show that left me breathless upon exiting the theater, because I had seen something brilliantly strange and joyous." Full Review
"This entertaining romp through Markey's childhood has been extended, and that's good news...The musical, featuring a first-rate band led by Emily Bate, belongs to Erin Markey...When you see her face encased in pantyhose, 'control top smooshed faces' remembering a childhood prank with her sister, it's not only hilarious, it is subversive...Making a show out of that material may be therapeutic for her, and it is great fun for us too." Full Review
"If you're hung up on binaries, this may not be the show for you. But if you like feeling discombobulated, yanked around by rousing musical numbers and delighted by the hectically romantic, you should head to Abrons...While some sections move less forcefully than others, for the most part the show's passionate soul sweeps us into its headlong, crazy gallop. It's Markey's ride, but we go cheerfully along." Full Review
"Warning: Erin Markey’s 'A Ride on the Irish Cream' is weird. Sometimes it’s weird-great, and sometimes it’s weird-WTF? Still, this mystifying sort-of-musical at least exists in its own warped universe...But just when you start to feel frustrated, Markey and music director-guitarist Emily Bate unleash another great song — the indie-rock score is often startlingly gorgeous, and packed with heavenly harmonies." Full Review
"Have you ever been completely confused by an experience, but somehow enjoyed it anyways? That’s exactly how I feel as I leave the quirky, high-energy performance of Erin Markey’s 'A Ride On the Irish Cream'...If you support independent, queer theater, you should definitely check this show out." Full Review
"Apparently, in the whimsical imagination of Ms. Markey, all things are possible. Few, unfortunately, are comprehensible in this peculiar hybrid of rock concert, performance-art piece and quasi-musical...It’s all head-scratchingly obscure, as if Ms. Markey were still a young girl intentionally trying to baffle her elders by speaking in a secret coded language. She certainly succeeded in baffling me." Full Review
See it if You like kids growing up, young love, the strange, funny songs and the unexpected, or even if you don't. I didn't expect to like it.
Don't see it if You're tight-assed and need logic and a plotline you can easily follow.
Cast & Creatives (15)
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