Posted By Mike Vilensky

“Turandot: The Rumble for the Ring” is disposing of the Hamptons’ coveted artistic pretentions and bringing some fun to town. Created by Diane Paulus and Randy Weiner of the critically acclaimed “The Donkey Show,” The rock-opera-wrestling show based on classic fairytales and former opuses premiered at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theatre this month. The story is best known from the 1920s Puccini opera, which “Rumble for the Ring” resembles. The show centers around a beautiful and badass woman, Turandot, whose father commissions a televised match in the ring for wild wrestlers to win her hand in marriage. But an “audience member” who was all heart but is not too big on brains or brawn falls so deeply in love with the yellow-and-black catsuit-striped prize that he enters the ring himself.

The love story, while perhaps underdeveloped, has its heart in the right place. As inane as “Turandot” may initially appear, its ability to give a good time kept me smiling.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 16th, 2007 at 11:43 and is filed under theater, review .