The Bearded Ladies Cabaret and FringeArts present Jackie Soro and Pax Ressler’s GIRL DOLLS: The American Musical

A joint presentation by the Bearded Ladies Cabaret and FringeArts, the musical examines the role of gendered toys in American childhood and how they shape the adults we become. Soro and Ressler draw on their own experiences with a brand of dolls that hit peak popularity in the 1990s and 2000s, delivering a tight, funny, and inspiring musical.

For all genders and generations

While it emphasizes femininity and millennial pop culture, GIRL DOLLS is for all genders and generations. A 90s music mix plays as the audience enters to a set (Chris Haig) resembling a tween girl’s bedroom, all youthful, femme pastels and squishy, furry furnishings. But the identity the set reflects is a microcosm of near-universal aspects of childhood and identity. The first song makes this connection by linking American status and belonging to purchasing power and market appeal, even for children. The American Girl doll catalog established this in the 90s, sending confusing messages to kids growing up then.

Soro and Ressler unpack those messages as adults, with hilarious and poignant results. Their terrific performances combine with the pacing, humor, and music to turn potentially explosive topics into a lively evening of theater. One song celebrates the array of clothes, accessories, and resources available to American Girl dolls while raising questions about the lack of support and care for real girls and other people. Another becomes an irreverent song of praise to the founder of American Girl dolls. Donning witchy red robes, Soro and Ressler sing with mock gravity about the US colonial project and legitimized gender identities. Some of the lyrics quote a 2009 article about the American Girl brand published in the Journal of Marketing.

Catchy, complex, and assured

Spanning genres from rock and pop to Broadway and hymns, the music is as catchy as 90s Top 40 but with lyrics thoughtful rather than vapid. A band in colorful throwback attire plays live on stage. Mel Hsu (bass), Corinne Kite-Dean (guitar), and Mel Regn (percussion) are precise and fun to watch. Ressler and Soro provide strong vocals throughout, singing alone and together in complex harmonies. Soro’s voice ranges from doll/child falsetto to Cardi B-style rapper, and she sings in Spanish to portray Josefina. Meanwhile, Ressler sings and speaks in Swedish to portray Kirsten, and they play keyboard while singing “Tea Party,” a highlight of the score.

Under MK Tuomanen’s direction, GIRL DOLLS is ambitious and assured, easily transitioning between music and dialogue, sincerity and satire, personal and cultural. A lot is going on—at times, almost too much—yet this is more about the show’s layers and intersections than its subject matter or execution.

Video (Nia Benjamin) and projection (Taj Rauch) add context and nuance without overly distracting techno-gimmickry. And GIRL DOLLS handles weighty issues with respect and grace, despite the shortage of these qualities in the real world. It is both an homage to turn-of-the-millennium girl culture and a critique of a national culture that merely performs valuing/including girls while upholding rigid and outdated gender roles and using capitalism to reinforce white supremacy.

Welcome to the table

GIRL DOLLS will make you laugh, and it may show you parts of yourself or help you better understand someone you care about. It makes an interesting case for dolls as metaphors for ourselves. The complicated, problematic histories of the original six American Girl dolls often mirror our own, individually and collectively. The tea party is a symbol, too, and Soro and Ressler welcome viewers to the table, whoever they are. This fits the ethos of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, which keeps serving exuberant performances and queer joy to ease Philadelphians’ souls in bleak times. See GIRL DOLLS while you can.

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