The sound of a subway rumbles. In Spiegelworld’s Glitterloft, it feels like I’ve been transported to 1970s New York City. Inspired by disco pioneer David Mancuso’s legendary parties, the DIY industrial-style bar is tucked away on the second floor of the Linq. I and the others who are waiting for DiscoShow’s opening night to begin busy ourselves with surprisingly delicious canned cocktails and permanent markers left out for guests to add to the wall graffiti.
The room is full of charismatic people in silk shirts, bell bottoms, bodysuits and sequins. Eureka O’Hara (from RuPaul’s Drag Race) magically appears, claiming her title as house mother and opening the portal to the disco dimension.
“Disco is a heartbeat and you have to move your body to it,” she tells us as we file into Glitterloft’s theater. Disco beats are pulsing. The dance floor lights up. People start dancing, some on roller skates. Then, they start dancing with me. Next thing I know, I’m dancing.
This show is not for people who at concerts like to sit at the back with their arms folded. DiscoShow’s audience is on its feet and at the center of the action.
Here are five reasons to get up and boogie over to DiscoShow.
1. Staging and presentation
The show venue is an inverted theater in the round where the audience is standing in the center, and the stage surrounds them on a raised platform. Surrounding the stage are LED walls displaying an ever-changing variety of New York City backdrops. This makes for seemingly endless action, and you have to have your head on a swivel to catch all the delightful acts. Performers do their thing atop raised platforms that roll throughout the center of the room, interacting with audience members. It’s one big disco party, and you’re invited to the dance floor.
2. The music
Calling all disco lovers! The soundtrack of DiscoShow drives the plot, and anchors that plot to the history of disco. Even the stiffest of showgoers may be unable to resist moving to tracks like Chic’s “Le Freak,” Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” The Trammps’ “Disco Inferno” and The Emotions’ “Best of My Love.” Late in the show, Rhianna’s “Only Girl (In the World)” drew the connection between the disco of the ‘60s and ‘70s and today. Dancing out to Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family” made the good vibes and nostalgia linger long past the afterparty.
3. The dancing
If a disco song plays and nobody’s around to dance to it, does it make a sound? The characters of DiscoShow make the music come to life with near-constant dance and little dialogue. (The show has only two speaking characters: Mother Eureka and an upbeat fellow named Åke, who we’ll talk about shortly.) Created by writer Michael Wynne and choreographed by Yasmine Lee, each character unravels their plotlines with some help from props and the LED images playing on the walls of the theater. They groove. They vogue. They serve. And it’s contagious.
4. Comes with dance instructor!
“I’m from Helsinki, but tonight, we’re going to heaven-sinki!” says Åke Blomqvist (played by Eli Weinberg) as he welcomes the crowd into the disco fold. The character, based on the late, great Finnish dance instructor, teaches at least five different dance moves to add to your repertoire. That way, once the cast comes rolling around to groove with you, you can impress them. (And if you need to groove sitting down, that’s totally fine; the venue is fully accessible. DiscoShow’s website has the details.)
5. A moving history lesson
Wynne and director Steven Hoggett didn’t want to focus on just the “sheen” of disco. They wanted to touch on its history, including Disco Demolition Night, which in July 1979 saw the destruction of disco records and a riot at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The show takes a somber tone in acknowledging the fear, misunderstandings and outright racism and homophobia that led to anti-disco demonstrations and rejection in the mainstream. But as the music turns back up and the audience looks around the room at all the people who came to see a disco show in 2024, it’s evident that disco never died.
DISCOSHOW Wednesday-Sunday, 7 & 9:30 p.m., $99. The Linq, spiegelworld.com/discoshow.
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