Jan. 30, 2013 - Issue #902: Come cry with Daniel Romano
Zodiac Arrest
Billy Kidd
"Everybody can relate to them in some way: either you are a sign, or your mother is that sign or your father or your partner," says Firefly artistic director Annie Dugan, noting she admires each person involved and maintained a great deal of trust and confidence in their ability to deliver a top-notch performance under the production's cart blanche approach. "Creation is what makes something unique and special, and we wanted to bring in artists whom we trust and respect and what will make this show so wonderful are the different voices."
Each artist and performer was given full creative licence to devise a performance fitting of their assigned personas, such as contortionists Caitlin Marchak and Mackenzie Baert taking on the Gemini twins to Jamie Cavanagh and Gianna Vacirca dancing Virgo/Libra and Australian Lyra performer Kristi Wade interpreting Aquarius.
Among these voices is UK-based magician Billy Kidd, who is doing double duty as Aries and Capricorn. In a homage to Harry Houdini, who also happened to be have been an Aries, Kidd will undergo an escapist routine, while she personifies the qualities of Capricorn through a mind-reading number—involving a monkey.
Kidd, who is a Sagittarius herself, admits she doesn't follow horoscopes, but engrossed herself in researching her assigned astrological signs to create two numbers that would best suit them. It was no easy feat, given the open nature of the production, but hopes the audience, particularly those who are Aries and Capricorn, can relate to what she is portraying.
"It's great because it's a huge variety show ... everyone's coming from different disciplines," says Kidd, who began practising magic in 2007 with sleight-of-hand tricks. "Every zodiac sign is very unique ... if you believe in it, a lot of people see stuff and go, 'Oh, that's definitely me, or that resembles me,' and I think, in a way, it being a variety of different performances compliments zodiac signs because everybody's so different."
Thu, Jan 31 – Sat, Feb 10 (8 pm)
Westbury Theatre, $22 – $28
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