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May 24, 2015

The singular talents of Mandy Patinkin and Taylor Mac — yes, you read that correctly — combine to delightful effect in “The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville,” the weird and weirdly transfixing entertainment having its premiere here at American Repertory Theater. I would not venture to say that Mr. Patinkin, the Broadway veteran known for his high-intensity style, and Mr. Mac, the exotic performer and playwright usually treading the boards in glittery eye shadow and spike heels, are the last two performers I’d expect to share a stage. Mr. Mac and, say, Wayne Newton would be an odder combination. Or maybe Mr. Patinkin and Karen Finley. Nevertheless they are not performers with an obvious cultural affinity, and the overlap between their fan bases could probably fit in a phone booth. The director and choreographer putting these two through their strange paces is Susan Stroman, whose work on Broadway (including “The Producers”) mostly falls within musical theater tradition. Stretching in new directions is a necessity for artists of any age or caliber, and all three deserve a round of hearty applause for concocting (with Paul Ford, the music director) this odd and often exhilarating show, which feels like a Beckett play — specifically “Waiting for Godot” — with the gnomic words replaced by more than two dozen tunes from the (mostly) American pop and Broadway songbooks.

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