Review: “TL;DR: THELMA LOUISE; A DYKE REMIX” at Diversionary Theatre

The world premiere musical “TL;DR: Thelma Louise; A Dyke Remix” playing at Diversionary Theatre is a dynamic, irreverent, and funny punk musical that contemplates questions of queer representation, who gets their happily ever after, and what that even looks like from a highly entertaining feminist and queer perspective.  “TL;DR: Thelma Louise; A Dyke Remix” is co-produced by Moxie Theatre and playing through June 9th at Diversionary Theatre.

Whether you have seen the movie “Thelma and Louise” or not (you don’t need to have seen it for this), the ending of that movie is an iconic moment in pop culture that most everyone is familiar with - as the 1966 blue thunderbird picks up speed and flies off a cliff of the Grand Canyon. 

This musical picks up moments after that, where Thelma (Sophia Araujo-Johnson) called ‘T” and Louise (Sara Porkalob) aka “L” find themselves safe, together, and wondering what happened.  They find that they are not alone but accompanied by a kickass band comprised of Lyric Boothe on guitar, Faith Carrion with vocals and aux instruments, MG Green on bass, and Steph Lehane on drums.

Once T and L realize they aren’t at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, they realize their character's queer subtext has also manifested openly - meaning they are lesbians who know next to nothing about queer life (they are from Arkansas as one character points out).  They, along with the band, search for what a queer happy ending even entails. 

All the band members have their ideas, each advocating for something different for how T and L should represent types of relationships while discussing and challenging expectations of what is queer norm.  It starts as fun, but soon T and L are overwhelmed as they cannot be everything to everyone. 

Sherri Eden Barber’s direction gives enough structure to this fast-moving and fluid piece allowing some of the trickier integrations to work together for the flow of the story. The show is fast-moving and has everything from game show vignettes to podcast episodes, superhero puppets, cartoon characters, and even a rainbow flag-carrying robot. This show is super creative, a lot of fun, and throughout the production encourages T and L to look at the world as they see and experience it, and not through learned societal norms or traditions about gender, sexual identity, or what “should” make them happy.

Arajo-Johnson as T and Porkalob as L have great chemistry together and navigate the ups and downs of their characters with an excellent grounding of their characters which allows their emotional journeys to feel real even amidst all this fantasy. Arajo-Johnson is the more naive and open of the pair and excels in her solo “Put Up A Fight”  towards the end of the show.  Porkalob as T is tougher, and more cautious about becoming as openly emotionally vulnerable.  As a performer, Porkalob has an uncanny ability to read and play to an audience exactly as needed to make them laugh, and she just as easily pulls on heartstrings in her solo “Stuck.”

The show opens with the question of why strong female characters have to die.  As the lyrics list characters from shows over the years you realize it is a long list (RIP Tara on “Buffy, The Vampire Slayer” your death traumatized my generation). What stories could be told and what could audiences see of themselves onscreen and onstage if they didn’t have to die?

With book and lyrics by EllaRose Chary, and music and lyrics by Brandon James Gwinn, the show is mostly sung-through, the band led by music director E. Renée Gamez. The one act at 90 minutes the show moves quickly, though it has a few shaggy moments in the middle that would benefit from a bit of editing. 

The band is full of vibrant and charismatic performers who feel authentic to themselves and they act, play music,  and belt the songs all at the same time.  I walked out humming the music which is not often the case.

The scenic design by Yi-Chen Lee is fun and allows for a Thunderbird to move in and around the theatre, along with an entire band. Lighting design by Colby Freel and Annelise Salazar saturates the stage in vibrant colors, but also works well with the projections designed by Sierra.  Steven Leffue's sound design allows all the dialogue, live music, and singing to integrate and work together in the space.

“TL;DR: Thelma Louise; A Dyke Remix” allows these characters to step out of the shadows and into the light and search for their happily ever after.
 

How To Get Tickets

“TL;DR: Thelma Louise; A Dyke Remix” is co-produced by Diversionary Theatre and Moxie Theatre and is playing through June 9th at Diversionary Theatre. For ticket and show time information go to www.diversionarytheatre.org 

Photo Credit: Photo by Talon Reed Cooper

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