Who is that fourth woman in the 2006 tabloid photo of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Britney Spears, notoriously captioned “The Three Bimbos of the Apocalypse”? That’s the question three Gen Z internet sleuths investigate in the world-premiere musical The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse, a parody of celebrity culture, social media, and their impact on self-worth by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley, now playing a limited Off-Broadway engagement at The Pershing Square Signature Center as part of The New Group’s 2024-25 30th anniversary season. Directed by and developed with Rory Pelsue, the campy fictitious narrative imagines the identity and truth about (the non-existent) Coco, a one-hit-wonder pop star who mysteriously vanished from the public eye in the early 2000s.
Though the story addresses the obsession with digital devices (everyone in the cast is recurrently holding a cell phone, checking it, and using it to light up the darkness) and social media (the three sleuth “worms” are podcasters), the staging slyly moves away from relying on projections. Instead, the cast strikes freeze poses to represent the still photograph in which their characters are seen (then move into action as the sleuths theorize about what might have happened) and, in place of screening videos of Coco’s taped musical appearances from the height of her career, sings them live on stage. But, ironically, for a show parodying digital culture and intentionally moving away from virtual reality, there is no printed program for the audience, just a postcard with minimal information and a code to scan to access it online. Of course we can’t have our phones on during the performance, so it’s virtually impossible to follow the set list of seventeen original songs while in attendance at the theater.
With that said, the avoidance of projections, at a time when so many Broadway shows are dependent on them, is an interesting twist on insecure characters who live their lives online and haven’t ventured outside in many years, are heard but not seen in their podcasts, and base their self-esteem on the number of followers they have and the Likes they get, but won’t read comments about themselves, largely out of fear of being trolled. Those are some resonant points about our current post-modern culture, with an overload of coming-of-age issues faced by teens, especially those who are different, unpopular, laughed at, or bullied, ultimately encouraging them to be who they are, fearless and proud. Along with all that are references to contemporary American politics, the belief that the end of the world is approaching, fake news, coming out, and the mission of locating missing women. It’s a lot – but so are the struggles of being a teenager or a momentary star, being agoraphobic or closeted. And it’s all done with youthful vision and satirical humor by an engaging ensemble of creators and performers, with appeal to a new generation of theatergoers.
Accompanied by a live band (Music Director Dan Schlosberg on keyboard, Emma Ford on drums/percussion, Brittany Harris on bass/cello, Jakob Reinhardt on guitar/ukulele, and PatchMaster Productions’ Julianne Merrill serving as Playback Engineer), an all-in cast of six – Milly Shapiro as Brainworm, Patrick Nathan Falk as Bookworm, and Luke Islam as Earworm (the three podcast sleuths), Keri René Fuller as Coco, Sara Gettelfinger as Mother!, and Natalie Walker as Kiki (the missing “bimbo” and the two other women who appear with her in the posted photo that the sleuths discover on the internet) – delivers the laughs, the feelings, the blockbuster vocals and moves of the pop-style songs, electronic music, and dancing (vocal arrangements by Breslin and Dan Schlosberg, orchestrations and music direction by Schlosberg, choreography by Jack Ferver, with additional choreography by Olivia Palacios), and the inherent social commentary that underlies the Gen Z parody with all-out empathy for their ultimately emerging characters.
The artistic design supports the youthful narrative and personalities, with costumes by Cole McCarty and hair and wigs by Matthew Armentrout that differentiate between the comfy at-home attire and plaids worn by the worms, the bright glittering jeans, halter tops, and upscale garment rack of Coco, and the ominous black outfit of Mother! (recalling Gettelfinger’s previous creepy roles as Morticia in The Addams Family and Cruella de Vil in The 101 Dalmatians Musical). Stephanie Osin Cohen’s simple set of three receding arches, with a central panel that rises, movable elements that roll in and out, and props by Jackson Berkley that make for easy transitions from one scene to the next – along with the all-important doctored painting of the actual photo of “The Three Bimbos of the Apocalypse” that appeared in the New York Post (an enlargement of which you can see in the lobby), adding an arm reaching out from the back seat and wearing a beaded bracelet with the name Coco – is enhanced with mood- and character-appropriate lighting by Amith Chandrashake and sound by Megumi Katayama and Ben Truppin-Brown.
Is Coco dead or will she be found? Will Brainworm emerge from her four years inside? Will Bookworm, who keeps proclaiming he’s “straight,” come together in person with his gay long-distance podcast co-host Earworm? And will they uncover who Mother! and Kiki really are? Find out in this wacky, young, and insightful musical parody of the over-arching dominance of internet culture in our present times.
Running Time: Approximately 90 minutes, without intermission.
The Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse plays through Sunday, June 1, 2025, at the New Group, performing at the Pershing Square Signature Center, Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theater, 480 W 42nd Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $38-74, including fees), go online or find discount tickets at TodayTix here.
