Janyl

Hate subtitles? Janyl will make you long for them. I was drawn to the theater by the idea of a multicultural Kyrgyz theater, but what I got was far from epic. Three musicians, four performers, and an American translator, basically ululating and dancing wildly before a slideshow of places in some foreign country. I couldn't understand the plot, nor why there were some actors in traditional clothing and others wearing silk suits. It seemed anachronistic, antagonistic, and pointless to me, and it bothers me that I can summarize this rich oral saga with less than a sentence: strong-willed girl captured; strong-willed girl escapes. Also, the cast kept mentioning something about magic horses that could sing like the wind, but also that their story was entirely true. I'd beg to differ, but if this evening of lackluster performances is something they'd call magical, maybe it's an apt description after all.