When, for instance, Ms. Yokoshi's direction has the trio approximate the vocalizing of Lady Gaga for the score's riff on the pop singer's song "Bad Romance, " they are at their most amusing and confident.
Painter George Condo was responsible for the marvelously simple and delicately colored setting and costumes, while recordings by dancemaker and musician Meredith Monk provided the score, dominated by her guttural and mostly wordless vocalizing.
Thus a white-coated doctor embodying "The Law" switched from vocalizing about Sparta's doctrine of letting weak newborns die to singing a child's ditty before moving to the role of "Memory" singing broken phrases that harken back to the horrific experiences of the victimized children.