Awash in Nostalgia, ‘Twin Peep Show’ Flashes the Glory Days
A new cabaret from longtime collaborators Opal Peachey and Mark Siano had the Triple Door awash in nostalgic glow. Twin Peep Show: A Cabaret of Secrets performed through August 4.
Transplants to big cities will, without fail, hear the same wistful refrain from the locals: “It’s not like it used to be.” In my New York days, people waxed nostalgic for the gritty, crime-ridden ’70s, or the pre-9/11 era; I’m sure these days people yearn for the New York of pre-pandemic times. But since I moved to Seattle, everyone’s singing the same tune: “It’s not like it was back in the ’90s.” Not that Seattleites are alone in that regard; after all, everywhere you look these days, Gen Zers are donning crop tops and stone-washed jeans for endless Friends marathons.
It’s not that surprising, then, that a show celebrating one of the more iconic shows of ’90s would find a home on Seattle’s stages. What is surprising? How good it is. Twin Peep Show: A Cabaret of Secrets — a tribute to Lynchian weirdness, the art of burlesque, and Seattle’s most iconic era — just ended its (unfortunately) short run at the Triple Door on August 4th. I’m only sorry I couldn’t see it a second time to revel in what was, I’m pleased to say, a damn fine theatrical experience.
To set the stage for the uninitiated: Twin Peaks was a seminal, visually stunning, narratively convoluted, and deeply weird ’90s classic which sprang from the mind of auteur director David Lynch. It told the tale — through its original two-season run, follow-up feature film, and eventual 2017 reboot — of beautiful, doomed Laura Palmer, the girl-next-door homecoming queen, and FBI Agent Dale Cooper, who is dispatched to (fictional) Twin Peaks, WA, to investigate her murder. How does this translate to a cabaret/burlesque showcase, you might ask? Very well.
Local artists Mark Siano and Opal Peachey, whose previous cabaret-burlesque collaborations at the Triple Door include Bohemia and Seattle Vice, have put together a murderer’s row of talent for this new show. The framing device is fairly straightforward: Peachey plays podcaster Emerald Cherry, whose show is a fan letter to Lynch’s masterpiece and to Seattle’s glory days. Having come to one of Twin Peaks’ iconic filming locations, she is lured by her nostalgic fondness for the show into following Siano’s devilishly seductive host into the fabled Red Room. There, Agent Cooper (Jones Talmadge) still pursues Laura Palmer (Anne-Marie Talmadge)’s spirit, and none of the other characters from the show can seem to escape. Will Emerald find her way out, or has her nostalgia doomed her to a purgatory of her own making?
But enough table-setting — let’s get to the entrée. The show, directed by Siano, who co-authored and composed it with Peachey, is a series of burlesque and cabaret performances. But that’s underselling it; the talent and athleticism on display is phenomenal. It’s hard to pick my favorite performance. Okay, I’m lying, it’s the absolutely unhinged aerial striptease from Katheryn Reed as the show’s iconic Log Lady. But I was also slack-jawed watching Vivian Tam’s effortless performance on aerial silks as mysterious Twin Peaks sawmill owner (it’s a looooong story) Josie Packard, and in her sensuous pas de deux with Effie Dubois.
IRL married couple Jones and Anne-Marie Talmadge shine in their separate moments throughout the show — Jones has Kyle MacLachan’s cheerfully odd mannerisms down to a T — but are absolutely stunning in their final balletic duet. Peachey’s Emerald grounds the action throughout and lends great comedic flair, as well as killer vocals in her big final number (“Blue Velvet”), itself a reference to the 1986 Lynch film of the same name.
Siano, along with his backup “Secret Agents” (music director Rob Witmer on keys, horns, and winds; Malex Reed on guitar, keys, horns, and vocals; Jarrett Mason on bass; and Troy Lund on drums) adds his own serious musical chops to the mix, particularly on a medley of ’90s classics. The costume and set design (from Kit Goldsworthy and Peachey, and Ron Darling and Siano, respectively) are immaculate.
This show is a slow, wet kiss to a bygone era, at turns sexy, wistful, and funny. Should it come through Seattle again any time soon, give yourself a present and make sure you don’t miss it. I, for one, will be waiting to see what new pleasures Siano and Peachey have in store for their audiences next.
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(Note: Siano and Peachey will be back at the Triple Door with Bohemia, an original absinthe-fueled Dvořák/Chopin cabaret collaboration, in January. Tickets available here.)
Twin Peep Show performed 7/27-8/4 at The Triple Door in Downtown Seattle. Show info here. Dinner and drink service available before and during shows; view menu here. Accessibility notes: main restrooms downstairs are gendered and multi-stall, with gender-neutral, single-stall restroom on the main venue level. Theatre and some common areas are wheelchair accessible.
Run time: 90 minutes, with intermission.
Jill Farrington Sweeney is a Texas ex-pat getting to know the Seattle-area arts scene, and is perpetually on the hunt for good Mexican food. Her writing has appeared on TheaterJones, Onstage NTX, and NWTheatre.