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Glenn is exquisite to look at and listen to, though Yoshimi is treated too picturesquely, like a suffering doll. Nolan, who was Jesus in McAnuff’s production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” anchors the show with a bohemian clownishness that contains a searching lyricism. (It’s not the sentiment so much as the banality of expression.) And then there are lines (“You know, there is evidence that love actually has the ability to heal”) that had me flipping through the program to see if inspirational author Louise L. The romantic turmoil is treated in the imagistic shorthand of a Madonna video. The basic outline of the story is clear enough, but the details can be fuzzy or cramped or, in the case of Yoshimi’s parents (played by John Haggerty and Pearl Sun), stereotypical. But the literary sensibility behind “Pink Robots” is markedly inferior to its visual imagination. #THE FLAMING LIPS YOSHIMI BATTLES THE PINK ROBOTS MOVIE#Thinking in an untraditional way is precisely what’s needed at a time when the American musical has reverted to cheesy movie adaptations and jejune jukebox contraptions. She’s in a relationship with Booker (Nik Walker), an investment broker, and trying her best to keep her computer graphics designer ex-boyfriend, the romantically dogged Ben (Paul Nolan), at bay. ![]() #THE FLAMING LIPS YOSHIMI BATTLES THE PINK ROBOTS FULL#And a group of ace musicians, conducted by Jasper Grant, one of the keyboardists, sets it all in motion to a lush, full sound.īut the awkward narrative tension between the seriousness of the subject matter and the fanciful way the allegory is realized never goes away.Ī hipster painter with a penchant for white canvases featuring a blob of yellow, Yoshimi (Kimiko Glenn) is healthy when we first meet her. The design team - which includes Robert Brill (scenic design), Basil Twist (puppetry), Sean Nieuwenhuis (video and projections), Paul Tazewell (costumes), Michael Walton ( lighting) and Steve Canyon Kennedy (sound) - has fashioned an extraordinary kaleidoscope, dominated by a cast of actor-controlled robots, including one 14-foot baby that looms over the action like a giant killer. The scenic imagery, a combination of Japanese anime and a loopier version of “Star Wars,” is relentless. And back at his old haunt, where he’s director emeritus (his unstoppable production of “Jersey Boys” surely sealed his Playhouse legacy), McAnuff seems intent on dazzling us with glitzy galactic spectacle. The electric fluidity that he brought to his recent revival of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and his landmark production of “The Who’s Tommy” is certainly on full multimedia display here. McAnuff, who shaped the story with the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne, seems to enjoy the freedom of working in that space between music video and book musical. Inspired by the music of the Flaming Lips, the show incorporates songs from several albums, including of course the critically acclaimed “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.” The sublime orchestrations are by music director Ron Melrose, who frequently collaborates with Des McAnuff, the show’s director and probably the most knowledgeable theater artist on the planet when it comes to bringing concept albums to the stage. Count me in the second category, though the ride through a night sky swarming with alien creatures is often exhilarating. ![]() You either go along with the premise - a Japanese American artist’s battle with lymphoma is transformed into a war against flying robots - or you balk at its New Age underpinnings. ![]() The show’s sophistication lies in the floating lyricism of its score, which can be categorized in that Tower Records-era indie catch-all known as “alternative rock.” The visual imagination is seductive, but in a manner that can seem shallow for a work chronicling in surreal fashion a young woman’s desperate fight against cancer. Our ears are delighted at a higher level than our eyes - or our minds, for that matter. LA JOLLA - Futuristic theatrical effects are deployed like a hypnotist’s pocket watch in “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.” But the real mesmerizing aspect of this new musical at La Jolla Playhouse, inspired by the music of the psychedelic rock band the Flaming Lips, is the way it sounds. ![]()
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