Review Roundup: THE LAST BIMBO OF THE APOCALYPSE Off-Broadway

The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse, a world premiere musical with book by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley, music and lyrics by Michael Breslin with additional music and lyrics by Patrick Foley, with vocal arrangements by Michael Breslin and Dan Schlosberg, orchestrations and music direction by Dan Schlosberg, choreographed by Jack Ferver, with additional choreography by Olivia Palacios, and directed by and developed with Rory Pelsue, is now playing Off-Broadway. 

This production from The New Group features Patrick Nathan Falk, Keri René Fuller, Sara Gettelfinger, Luke Islam, Milly Shapiro and Natalie Walker.  Previews began April 22 in advance of Official Opening Night on Tuesday, May 13.  A limited Off-Broadway engagement is slated through June 1 at The Pershing Square Signature Center.

In 2006, The New York Post infamously labeled Paris, Lindsay and Britney “The Three Bimbos of the Apocalypse.”  But who is the fourth girl in that famous photo?  Today, three Gen Z internet sleuths investigate that icon – Coco, an early 2000’s one-hit wonder who mysteriously vanished.  Their epic musical quest leads them to uncover the truth, deliver justice and rewrite pop history. See what the critics are saying...
 

Rhoda Feng, The New York Times: Especially in its latter half, “Bimbo” traverses the gap between the very online and the very not online with exuberant intelligence. Earworm and Bookworm have a lovely number about who they are in their private realities, when no one’s looking at them. For a show about pop stardom and fandom, it has a surprising amount to say about oblivion — and our inalienable right to it.

Amelia Merrill, New York Theatre Guide: Though some technical elements are more confusing than illuminating — a lack of scenic or lighting differentiation between the “private” screen, where the YouTubers talk only to each other, and the public livestream was aggravating — Last Bimbo is a revelatory romp with enough cleverness to justify its twists.

Michael Sommers, New York Stage Review: Staged nimbly by Pelsue underneath arched Looney Tunes portals airily designed for speedy scenic needs by Stephanie Osin Cohen, the production easily rolls over most potholes in the plot. The lighting designed by Amith Chandrashaker lends color and dramatic shadows to events; a nightmarish “Stop Scrolling” sequence is illuminated cleverly by iPhones. While The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse is one curiously mixed-up musical, the production is sufficiently entertaining to amuse viewers willing to overlook its somewhat bipolar behavior.

Matthew Wexler, 1 Minute Critic: Shapiro can’t quite carry the emotional weight of the musical’s central character, but she’s got plenty of support from scene-chewing Keri Reneé Fuller as Coco, Broadway vet Sarah Gettelfinger as MOTHER!, Natalie Walker as Kiki, and her wormy cohorts. Wrapped in a fake couture fur of Y2K nostalgia, The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse transforms yesterday’s tabloid into an excavation of celebrity obsession and Gen Z social media-fueled social anxiety.

Average Rating: 72.5%