Review: Tarantino|Pulp Rock Captures the Gory Glory of the Master Filmmaker

Being caught inside a Quentin Tarantino film could be a terrifying experience—just riding in the back seat of a car can get your head blown off. But to be immersed in a Tarantino soundtrack is to be transported to a sensual, rock-n-roll universe. Tarantino|Pulp Rock—a refashioned version of For the Record: Tarantino in Concert, first launched at the Barre in Los Feliz, California, in 2011—is gory and glorious.

When Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction came out in 1994, it created a filmic revolution. His soundtrack was a rediscovery of ’60s and ’70s songs that had been absent from many radio stations for years. Juxtaposing clips of sumptuous dialogue from the film with the songs, the album did more than just remind listeners of the film: It sucked them into the word of hit men, femme fatales, and gimps. Tarantino|Pulp Rock—now performing at CineVita with a tribe of triple threats—accomplishes even more than those soundtracks. It pays tribute to the films and the music.

Instead of arranging songs chronologically, For the Record’s artistic director Anderson Davis has broken the evening into themes: “The Black Suits of Armor,” “Fight for Your Life,” “A Time They Called War,” “The Stuntman,” and “Rodeo in a Basement.” Actors shift between characters seamlessly. Ethereal Tara Lee seamlessly slips between Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction overdosing on the floor to Katana fighting as Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill. James Byous masterfully conflates characters, showing us Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s Rick Dalton messing up the dialogue of Django Unchained’s Dr. Schultz. It’s fractured Tarantino, and thrilling theater.

The cast is superlative. Derek Richard Thomas combines his vocals with his guitar riffs in Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon.” Tracie Thoms, one of the original For the Record players who appeared in Tarantino’s Death Proof, shines as the snappy Jackie Brown. Brian McKnight Jr., as the Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction, is commanding and frightening.

McKnight and Thoms bring down the house with “Freedom.” Lord KraVen takes Samuel L. Jackson’s dialogue and makes it his own as Pulp Fiction’s Jules. Byous finds himself a victim in both Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs segments, while allowed to own both Brad Pitt’s sly lines in Inglorious Basterds and Leo DiCaprio’s breakdown in Once Upon a Time.

Cheyenne Isabel Wells steals the show with her version of “Malagueña Salerosa” while coquettish Maëva Feitelson sings a fantastic mash-up of David Bowie’s “Cat People (Putting Out the Fire)” and Shivaree’s “Goodnight Moon.” Lauren Han is tantalizing as the assassin O-REN, having the pleasure of delivering Lucy Liu’s legendary Kill Bill monologue, while Tara Lee slips into Uma Thurman’s iconic Mia Wallace/Beatrix Kiddo outfits and sings “Son of a Preacher Man.”

Not least, Patrick Mulvey—sadistic as an ear-cutting Mr. Blonde, cruel as a psychotic Stuntman, and haunting as the charming, cunning Hans Landa—displays a chameleonlike ability to inhabit different roles. With “Stuck in the Middle With You” and “Hooked on a Feeling,” he makes the set’s most popular songs sound fresh.

Davis keeps the evening flowing seamlessly. Associate director and choreographer Sumie Maeda is responsible for the slick staging and electrifying re-creation of the films’ dances. Michael Berger’s lighting conjures the blood not actually shown onstage. Steve Mazurek replicates Tarantino’s costumes and makes everything look expensive. Music director David Saul Lee makes music supervisor Jesse Vargas’s arrangements sound electric.

No one does hip like Tarantino. Since the opening of Reservoir Dogs, where six anonymous men clad in black suits and thin black ties saunter in slow motion to George Baker Selection’s “Little Green Bag,” the gangsters, con artists, stuntmen, molls, and assassins of the Tarantino universe have fascinated us. Tarantino|Pulp Rock oozes style, with penetrating songs and a cast on fire.