Brothers and Twisters

by A.D. Amorosi

circus

When a producing theater company like the Prince stops the premiere of a work like Einstein's Dreams, a complex musical based on the doubly complex novel from Alan Lightman, what possibly could they replace it with? Something of quadruple complexity or something of zip convolution? How about something in-between? The chattering, juggling, dancing Flying Karamazov Brothers is exactly that — a weirdly bearded performance troupe dressed like extras in Gangs of New York if it had been filmed in Slovenia. They sound like the jerky gypsy jive of Gogol Bordello. They act like another raucous team of brothers, the Marxes, and another not-so-flying circus, the Pythons.

The oddball comedy of these "siblings" comes equally from their acrobatic athleticism and from their wily wits. Nobody blithely names themselves after a Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky novel unless they have something to say. And nobody bases a work on 12th-century Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides' book, The Guide for the Perplexed, unless they're ruminating inwardly. With music from "Brothers" Mark Ettinger and Howard Patterson and guest composers Wayne Horvitz and Douglas Wieselman, "Life: A Guide for the Perplexed" promises modern-day parables told through outrageous improvisations, prop-comic ridiculousness and tricky, wordy speeches that skewer everything from American politics to faith-based semantics to Indian Bollywood cinematics. Between the talk and the squawk, FKB make six-octave sounds with their homemade musical instrument, the Juggletron, and play mind games with their audience like "The Gamble, or Stump the Champ." Whatever that is.

The Flying Karamazov Brothers present "Life: A Guide for the Perplexed," Feb. 25-March 20, $25-$40, Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St., 215-569-9700.