TWO GINGER SNAPS UP
FOR THIS PARENT TRAP PARODY

The subtitle for Ginger Twinsies, the new Off-Broadway comedy which opened last night at the Orpheum Theatre, reads: “The Parent Trap parody (legally speaking).” Having never seen Nancy Myer’s 1998 Disney film starring Lindsay Lohan, it gave me pause; I wondered if I’d spend the evening missing every joke while the superfans laughed around me. Thankfully, that fear was unfounded. I laughed often, smiled throughout, and was surrounded by howling viewers.

 Aneesa Folds and Russell Daniels

The plot will feel familiar to anyone who’s seen the film: 11-year-old separated identical twin sisters, Hallie and Annie, who were both played by Lohan in the film, meet at summer camp, realize they’re family, swap places, and conspire to reunite their estranged parents. Except here, Annie (Russell Daniels) is a white girl from London and Hallie (Aneesa Folds) is a Black girl from California. Complications arise when their father (Matthew Wilkas) plans to ditch mom (Lakisha May) to marry Meredith Blake (Phillip Taratula), a deliciously over-the-top villainess. Or rather, from her point of view—the heroine!

Aneesa Folds and Company

Russell Daniels, Jimmy Ray Bennett, and Company

The subtitle undersells the show. Ginger Twinsies is far more than a Parent Trap parody. While it riffs on the movie’s plot points and logic, the play gleefully lampoons the entire “switched-twins” genre and the madcap absurdity of camp-away family films. Its spirit owes more to Ruthless! The Musical, Charles Ludlam, Charles Busch, and Reefer Madness—comedies that celebrate homespun theatricality while satirizing familiar tropes.

Grace Reiter and Company

Aneesa Folds, Lakisha May, Russell Daniels

Like the best drag farces, the production delights in playful artifice: men play women, actors juggle multiple roles, and director Kevin Zak (doing double duty as playwright) keeps the door-slamming action brisk, even adding two Laugh-In-style pop-out panels above the stage. A standout prop is the barking dog who fails to recognize a disguised twin, culminating in an outrageously dark gag that had spectators shrieking.

Phillip Taratula and Company

Lakisha May, Matthew Wilkas, and Russell Daniels

Daniels and Taratula are the evening’s comic MVPs—masters of physical humor and razor-sharp timing. The cast of eight is uniformly strong, many not just doubling but tripling roles. Mitch Wood scores big laughs as both a giant lizard and a literal campfire. Another favorite is Jimmy Rae Bennett as Annie’s English butler and their hilariously overlong goodbye handshake, which earned three separate bursts of applause before it finally concluded.

 The Company

Beowulf Boritt’s set design embraces this tradition of poor man’s makeshift aesthetic, relying on cardboard cutouts for everything from camp cabins to the London Bridge, Big Ben, and a Napa Valley home. Posted signs of place markers and other comments also bring about laughs—my favorite being the one that apologizes that the set extends only partway into the audience due to “budget constraints.” Bradley King’s lighting and Joshua D. Reid’s sound design heighten the chaos with their own punchlines and surprises, while Wilberth Gonzalez’s costumes never disappoint with this tradition that relies on delightfully outrageous drag—most memorably the absurdly oversized woman’s hat that conceals smaller hats underneath. Krystal Balleza and Will Vicari’s wigs, especially the twins’ ginger coifs, become sight gags of their own. The haircut one twin gives the other is a scream. Literally.

Russell Daniels and Jimmy Ray Bennett

Grace Reiter and Company

Yes, there are plenty of Parent Trap nods and meta-commentary on the film. But the show’s humor extends far beyond that — rapid-fire one-liners about celebrities, Broadway musicals, bawdy innuendos, even a tongue-in-cheek Stomp tribute (a wink to the Orpheum’s earlier tenant). The comedy revels in drag-camp excess, complete with catfights, politically incorrect jokes, and gleefully tasteless punchlines. In other words, it’s no longer family friendly but rather for adults.

Phillip Taratula

Matthew Wilkas

Like the rowdy drag comedies of Ludlam and Busch, Ginger Twinsies might be even funnier with a pre-show drink or two. But whether you’re sober, tipsy, or gummy-enhanced, this riotous, joyfully ridiculous romp offers a much-needed dose of laughter.

Grace Reiter

photos by Matthew Murphy

Ginger Twinsies
Orpheum Theatre at 126 Second Avenue
ends on October 26, 2025
for tickets, visit Ginger Twinsies

Phillip Taratula

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Gregory Fletcher is an author, a theater professor, a playwright, director, and stage manager. His craft book on playwriting is entitled Shorts and Briefs, and publishing credits include two YA novels (Other People’s Crazy, and Other People’s Drama), 2 novellas in the series Inclusive Bedtime Stories, 2 short stories in The Night Bazaar series, and several essays. Website, Facebook, Instagram.