Salvador Dali, National Geographic, and MOMIX equals 'Opus Cactus'

Salvador Dali, National Geographic, and MOMIX equals 'Opus Cactus'

• 2017-06-22

‘Opus Cactus’ Returns, Care of MOMIX at the Joyce Theater
June 27 - July 16

By Jack Anderson | June 22, 2017

Deserts aren’t necessarily deserted — they can be crowded with fantastic flora and fauna. Moses Pendleton knows how to make theatrical deserts bloom in his “Opus Cactus,” which his company, Momix, is reviving at the Joyce Theater on Tuesday, June 27. With lights, shadows, props, puppetry and wondrously agile human dancers, Mr. Pendleton conjures the landscape of the American Southwest, filling the stage with images of desert storms, soaring birds, skittering insects, snakes and Gila monsters, tumbleweeds and giant cactuses.

Audiences may find all this great fun, but, recognizing that desert landscapes can be fragile as well as magical, Mr. Pendleton also provides sharp spines of implications relating to ecology, conservation and other serious concerns. (Through July 16; joyce.org.)