G3P MoMA (excerpt Hard and Tenderly) THE RESIDENTS- RANDY ROSE and JOHN SANBORN

Witness the disturbing gospel of Mr. X and The Holy Twins, brought to life by legendary art rockers The Residents and celebrated media artist John Sanborn! The live video/theater performance of God in 3 Persons, adapted by Sanborn from The Residents’ groundbreaking 1988 album of the same name, received its world premiere at The Museum of Modern Art on January 24 & 25, 2020, in three sold out shows. In this propulsive and brooding musical about madness, The Residents’ anonymous lead singer, performing as Mr. X, tells of his encounters with a pair of ambiguously gendered conjoined twins - portrayed on video by renowned gender queer porn star Jiz Lee. Their physical union has magical healing powers...or so he claims! A confession of faith mongering complicated by a crisis of desire, God in 3 Persons functions as a darkly twisted tale about the risk of losing yourself in the process of attempting to attain perfection. The story is told using lurid multi-layered video projections created by Sanborn, that The New Yorker called “phantasmagoric“. The media component explores the mind and dream logic confusion of Mr. X as he descends into madness, while on stage, Mr. X is trailed by a shadowy doppelganger who teases and taunts, acting as a foil for his dark desires. The Residents, who have remained anonymous since their 1972 debut, provide live accompaniment, performing here as a six-piece musical ensemble with a featured vocalist for each performance. Travis Chamberlain directed the work for the stage with musical direction by Joshua Raoul Brody and puppet and prop design by Leigh Barbier. Steve Saporito produces. God in 3 Persons is sung in rhythmic spoken word fashion, similar to the talking blues, and driven by a bombastic and dynamic score derived entirely from the first few bars of the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy, along with the melodic hook from the Swinging Medallions 1966 hit “Double Shot of My Baby's Love.” Despite being one of their most critically successful albums and a fan favorite, God in 3 Persons has never toured as a concert or live performance. God in 3 Persons a collaboration between The Residents and John Sanborn The Museum of Modern Art, NY, January 24 + 25, 2020 Legendary performance group the Residents, in collaboration with media artist John Sanborn, have created a singular, live video/theater version of their legendary 1988 album “God in Three Persons”- the story of a disgraced preacher and his twisted obsession with a pair of conjoined twins he claims to be miracle workers. Adapted by Sanborn for the stage, G3P features new orchestrations of 10 classic Residents' songs by musical director Joshua Raoul Brody, and we directed for the stage by Travis Chamberlain. Gender queer performer Jiz Lee plays the elusive Twins. The work was developed during a 2 week residency at The Lab in San Francisco before premiering at MoMA .