In 1980, on the eve of Ronald Reagan’s presidency, five sisters in Los Angeles take Reagan’s credo of rugged individualism to the extreme. Set to Holly Herndon’s experimental laptop music, The Mood Room combines dance, theater, and spoken opera to look at the consequences of such 80s mantras as “shop til you drop,” “trickle-down economics,” and “pick yourself up by your bootstraps.” Monologuing about their dermatologists, trips to Africa, and art, the women become increasingly disconnected from real-world responsibility. More than a year after the coronavirus cancelled The Mood Room’s premiere, the show, created and directed by the choreographer Annie-B Parson, finally gets its debut at BAM. Based on Five Sisters by Guy de Cointet, and nodding to Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, the hour-long work takes navel-gazing to the Nth degree. —J.D.

The Mood Room
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Brooklyn Academy of Music / New York / Stage
Brooklyn Academy of Music / New York / Stage
Photo: Maria Baranova.
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