Andre Diniz
Twisted Bitch on the Move
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, September 2, 2025
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Andre Diniz was back at Don’t Tell Mama, and that meant another episode in his high-energy (manic?) hybrid of cabaret, musical comedy, and camp parody. This time, he told the tale of his residency in Los Angeles, with a few side trips to other locales in the state of California. It was a story about unwelcoming gay bars, cocaine-fueled parties, and the different ways doyennes of LA and NYC perceive time. This was illustrated with pop songs performed by such single-named artists such as Liza, Britney, Donna, and ABBA, retrofitted out with appropriate—as well as highly inappropriate—lyrics by Diniz.
His name was all over this outing as producer, director, writer, and star. He was also all over the theater, spending time in the audience, in all the spaces of the stage, and even on top of the piano. He was shirtless and athletically squirmed during his version of “I’m Too Sexy” (Fred and Richard Fairbrass & Rob Manzoli) that recalled Peter Allen at his most outrageous.
However, this was far from a one-man gig. Diniz surrounded himself with a quartet of talented gentlemen who had the same kind of antic approach to the material. His sardonic on-stage musicians, who sometimes served as friends and sometimes as faux antagonists, were pianist Chris Stephens and percussionist Josh Azenberg Also present were his two backup singers and partners in salty crime, Matt Rodriguez and Leo Altarfini. The former duetted on “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” (Richard & Robert Sherman) among other tunes. Altarfini showed off his flexible tenor in “Halo” (Beyoncé Knowles/Ryan Tedder & Evan Bogart) and in some other selections. Diniz showed off his own vocal skills with powerful notes in “MacArthur Park” (Jimmy Webb).
Diniz sprinkled his script with such witty observations as “King of the Hill is just a show on TV” in his version of “Theme from New York, New York” (John Kander & Fred Ebb) and in his observation that he “doesn’t like question marks in [his] life.” What made his show a bit exhausting was its nonstop mania; a quiet moment or two or maybe a ballad would have been highly welcome. But to be fair, his youthful audience clearly had the best of times and seemed to thrive on all the energy.
