Jane Wickline’s sense of humor is a unique flavor of absurdist. Her delivery is devotedly flat. Her perspective is off-kilter with a tendency toward the perverse. Yet her charm is undeniable as she sings about overstaying her welcome at a party or the trouble of falling in love with a psychic. Whether on TikTok, Saturday Night Live, or in her sketch-comedy-musical Dukes opposite collaborator Liva Pierce, her performance style evokes that surreal point at a slumber party where your sleep-deprived brain is giggly, maybe a bit confused, but ultimately blissful.
Her powers are only enhanced when combined with Pierce, so Dukes, now playing at SoHo Playhouse in New York, is a real trip, like in the way you might wonder if someone slipped you an edible beforehand. Thankfully, it’s a collective trip, so surrounded by 170+ fellow passengers, you journey through this bizarre tale of friendship, firemen aspirations, and financial despair, buoyed by waves of laughter.
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What’s Dukes about?
Jane Wickline and Liva Pierce star in “Dukes.”
Credit: Dev Bowman
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