The Donkey Show

By Richard Zoglin

The latest entry in New York City's alternative-theater boomlet, this disco version of A Midsummer Night's Dream takes place in a downtown club where the audience stands while the performers mingle, gyrate, sing '70s hits and enact something vaguely resembling a play by William Shakespeare. The guys are played by girls in wigs and mustaches; the fairies by guys in loincloths and glitter; and Bottom is a pair of street dudes who together are transformed into the show's title ass. Shakespeare must be spinning, but the retro high spirits are hard to resist.

--By Richard Zoglin