'The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse' Off-Broadway review — a musical for the extremely online
Read our review of The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse off Broadway, a new musical by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley of Fake Friends, presented by The New Group.
To truly appreciate The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse, it helps to have some background knowledge. You don’t need to be an expert on the titular Bimbos — scenic designer Stephanie Osin Cohen provides a mural recreation of the tabloid photo of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Paris Hilton seen ‘round the world — but it helps to go in with a sense of the satirical, over-the-top, tongue-in-digital-cheek fare that Fake Friends, the theatre company from which Bimbo creators Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley hail, produces.
If that sounds like a caveat, so be it. The New Group’s production is for those whose lived experience is grounded in the flash of a mid-2000s digital camera. Breslin and Foley’s one-act musical was made for and by the extremely online.
How do you make a high-energy, high-comedy satire about women deemed dull and disposable by society without insulting the intelligence of those women and the characters investigating them? This trap emerges often in work about women that seeks to valorize them as “icons” and “divas” but doesn’t actually include women in the writing process. But each time I feared Last Bimbo was falling into this hole, it would yank itself right back up.
The Worms, three YouTubers deep-diving into that infamous paparazzi photo, never accept the easiest version of events. The group reinvestigates possibilities about the life and career of failed pop star Coco (Keri René Fuller), the fourth and oft-ignored person featured in the photo, that are far more interesting than the inner musings of the mopey Brainworm (Milly Shapiro). Bookworm (Patrick Nathan Falk) is so convinced of the interiority of the Bimbos that he scans their songs for subtexts about the invasion of Iraq.
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.
The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse summary
Sixteen-year-old YouTube sleuth Brainworm (Shapiro) never goes outside, dedicating all her time to investigating missing girls. When she learns that Y2K nostalgia YouTubers Bookworm (Falk) and Earworm (Luke Islam) are just as intrigued as she is by a paparazzi photo of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and Paris Hilton — infamously dubbed “3 Bimbos of the Apocalypse” by the New York Post — she confides in them that she believes a fourth It Girl is lurking in the photo’s background. The Worms set off on an internet adventure to identify the missing Bimbo, track her down, and drag her back into the spotlight.
What to expect at The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse
The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse has a runtime of approximately 90 minutes and is performed without an intermission. The production features strobe lights and haze, and the script includes references to homophobia, bullying, sexism, and suicide. The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse also features simulated violence onstage.
What audiences are saying about The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse
The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse has an audience approval rating of 54% on the review aggregator Show-Score.
- Show-Score user aka calls Last Bimbo a “glorious trainwreck” of music and color and urges, “Come for the gorgeous incoherence and you will have a good time.”
- X user @alunjohnhood writes that the “highly original, very witty” new musical is “as bat sh*t crazy as the title would suggest.”
- Show-Score user Erin F 3 says that Last Bimbo “is not at all sure who it is for.”
Read more audience reviews of The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse on Show-Score.
Who should see The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse
- If you enjoyed the Off-Broadway musical The Big Gay Jamboree, you’ll revel at Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominee Natalie Walker’s vocal prowess.
- Fans of Breslin and Foley’s previous work, including the Pulitzer Prize finalist Circle Jerk, won’t want to miss their latest collaboration.
- If your aesthetic is all about Y2K nostalgia and you regularly go down internet rabbit holes about Hollywood it girls of yesteryear, one-hit pop wonders, or how the War on Terror affected popular culture, this is the musical for you.
Learn more about The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse off Broadway
If you’re confused by a plot revelation in Last Bimbo, don’t fret — Breslin and Foley have tricks up their sleeves until the very end of the show.
Photo credit: The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse off Broadway. (Photos by Monique Carboni)
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