Review: Ain’t Done Bad Is a Gay Country Dance Fantasy

Gay Country Ballet is not a genre I’ve ever encountered in all my years as a theater critic. And yet it proves to be an enjoyable ménage à trois in Jakob Karr’s Ain’t Done Bad, now making its off-Broadway debut at Signature Center under the banners of Blue Topaz Productions and Renaissance Theatre Company (which is also producing the musical across the hall). The dancing is lovely, and the story is insubstantial, making this pleasantly light summer fare.

Karr conceived, directed, and choreographed Ain’t Done Bad. He also stars as the Son, our protagonist in this wordless dance drama, which is set to the music of Orville Peck. He lives with his father (Adrian Lee), mother (Megumi Iwama), and brother (Ian Spring). Judging from the sharp and anguished movements they shoot one another from across the dinner table, no one is particularly happy.

Son finds little glimmers of joy from borrowing his mom’s makeup (a moment set to the song “Queen of the Rodeo”), or the sparkly fringe jean jacket he shows off for his friends (Yusaku Komori and Jordan Lombardi). But this isn’t the ’90s, when young gay men in popular entertainment were fabulous and reassuringly abstinent. Son eventually wanders out to the gay bar, where he cats around with a string of lovers who are distressingly played by the dancers who earlier portrayed his father and brother. What would Dr. Freud say about our golden age of the daddy fetish?

Luckily, we don’t have to ponder this too deeply. Philip Lupo’s costumes clearly delineate the characters, with the boys of the night donning denim overalls and nothing else (this iconic farmer’s garment has never been so sexy). The scenic design (by Lupo, Joey Coombs, and Blake Schulte) suggests a decaying barn while mirrors on castors facilitate changes in locations. Those essential set pieces also become a part of the action, like when they reveal the lover who sticks around.

That character is played by the adorable Josh Escover, who arrives during the song “Let Me Drown” and performs a series of seamless and sensual pas de deux with Karr. Their duets are the high point of Ain’t Done Bad, culminating in a beautiful scene set to Peck’s cover of “Unchained Melody.”  This is obviously the one to take home to mom and dad — but what will they say?

Karr’s athletic and precise choreography tells a fairly standard coming-out story for a gay country boy, and it puts Peck’s music to good use in that endeavor. “Dead of Night” perfectly captures a night at the club, with the dancers slinking through the shadows and sharing furtive glances (“see the boys as they walk on by”). “Daytona Sound” becomes the galloping first act finale, conveying the exuberance of finding a tribe and a place.

Karr performs it all beautifully, with graceful extensions and dizzying pirouettes, the members of the ensemble rising to meet the high bar he sets. From a dance perspective, it’s excellent. As a drama, it’s merely ok.

There is a dearth of conflict in Ain’t Done Bad. We see its happy ending coming from miles away. That feels somewhat false in a time when hostility toward LGBT people still exists — most vociferously in the parts of the country where country music is particularly enjoyed. Of course, Orville Peck’s entire career proves that there is an overlap constituency for both country music and gay sex. In that light, Ain’t Done Bad should be seen as a beautiful vision of what America could be — and is becoming.