Blame the catchy title of a 1964 film for the “retro-futuristic dance drama” currently stunning audiences into shocked disbelief at The Sage Theater. If Russ Meyer had titled his movie anything other than Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, would the girl-gang B-movie ever have become a threadbare cultural touchstone? Almost unwatchable (yeah, I said it), the movie is definitely a worthy predecessor to Sean Gill’s delirious fever dream, Go-Go Killers.
There’s some enjoyment to be had from a show this spectacularly bad, especially at the low ticket price.The story is simple: Poverty-stricken rival girl gangs are killing off the superrich of 2019 under the orders of a lamé-clad soccer mom (or something). The story is also utterly beside the point. First and foremost, this is a chance to see sassy actresses playing sassy characters named things like Pandora and Electra.
Unfortunately, director-choreographer Rachel Klein was obviously too busy trying to prevent a cast of mostly non-dancers from killing themselves to worry about their acting; as a result, we have a bunch of left-footed girls in sequined costumes who don’t hurt themselves but do try to bore the audience to death. As a choreographer, Klein has one good idea with which she batters the audience for 90 minutes. Scene changes are just a chance to bust out another round of her catclaw version of The Monkey, and a climactic, strobe-lit fight sequence is so poorly timed that all of the dancers’ most athletic moves occur during the blackouts, leaving the ungainly landings exposed in the harsh, hit-ormiss lighting from designer Lisa Soverino.
Which is not to say that Go-Go Killers is the worst piece of theater currently playing in NYC.There’s something riveting about a production this bad, similar to what fans of Faster, Pussycat! must feel. For most of the show I was either slack-jawed in disbelief or doubled over in giddy giggles. Killers is so truly terrible that one begins to suspect Klein and Gill of playing an elaborate practical joke, creating their own Russ Meyer movie and daring us to complain. But too much of the show feels like a sincere attempt at irony, and Gill feebly tries to tie up his convoluted plot strands before the end. As killers, those go-go girls couldn’t land a roundhouse kick if they had months of rehearsal time beforehand. Believe me. They proved it.
> Go-Go Killers
Through May 30, The Sage Theater, 711 7th Ave. (at W. 47th St.), www.smarttix.com; times vary, $15.
Myer Wieners: Go-Go Killers
