Last weekend quite literally on West 52nd Street in Hell’s Kitchen, I attended an outdoor performance of the new rock musical Oso Fabuloso & The Bear Backs!, INTAR Theatre’s entrée back into the realm of presenting in-person performances. A show with a title like that has a lot to live up to. And boy, does it. The sensational new musical, which features book and lyrics by C. Julian Jiménez and music by PK Variance, tells the story of a Latino bear named Oso and the tribulations of a relationship gone sour. In short, the new musical just may be the theatrical sleeper hit of this Pride Month. It deserves to be, anyway.
Like its most obvious forbear – Hedwig & The Angry Inch – Oso Fabuloso & The Bear Backs! is structured as a rock concert confessional. Also like that show, it unapologetically celebrates LGBTQ+ subculture, specifically with respect to bears and leather daddies. Musically, the score calls to mind the song stylings of Meat Loaf, but with a bit more variety. Altogether, it’s the most exciting rock score I think I’ve heard since Andrew R. Butler’s work in Rags Parkland Sings The Songs Of The Future. My only gripe is that the overall story is a bit simplistic, but as a vehicle for the powerhouse songs, it serves its purpose more than adequately. With a little more development in the narrative department, the show can be even more of a knockout than it already is.
Like John Cameron Mitchell in Hedwig, Mr. Jiménez himself takes on the central role of Oso, and he’s nothing short of a revelation as he outrageously struts like a 1980s metal band frontman and sluts like a man on a mission at the Eagle. The possessed performance feels utterly lived in and alive, which makes you all but forget the book’s slight triviality. As the bearish backup singers Grizz and Gummy (the Bear Backs!), Joseph Distl and Vasilios Leon are the epitome of queer fabulousness. Rounding out the cast is co-writer PK Variance, who is featured as Oso’s psychiatrist. The live band is simply awesome, giving the show a big sound that wouldn’t be out of place at a real rock concert. Suffice to say, Oso Fabuloso & The Bear Backs! deserves a future life and may well be the next Hedwig.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
OSO FABULOSO & THE BEAR BACKS!