'And Then the Rodeo Burned Down' Off-Broadway review — cowboy clown show isn’t Xhloe and Natasha’s first rodeo

Read our review of And Then the Rodeo Burned Down, the Off-Broadway-debut show by Drama Desk Award-winning theatre duo Xhloe and Natasha at Ars Nova.

Summary

• And Then The Rodeo Burned Down is a theatrical clown show following a rodeo clown solving the mystery of who burned the rodeo down
• Indie theatre darlings Xhloe and Natasha exhibit strong writing and performance skills with excellent physical comedy and a clever plot twist
• The show is recommended for fans of the duo's other shows and followers of the growing mainstream clown scene

Just when you think you know Xhloe and Natasha, they pull a cowboy hat down over your eyes and switch things up on you. The clown duo has made waves in New York and abroad for their two-hander, surreal-ish short shows, winning the Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s Fringe First Award for writing three consecutive times, beginning with And Then The Rodeo Burned Down in 2022. Now running at Ars Nova after a one-night-only performance at the company’s ANT Fest last year, Rodeo presents the same shtick fans have come to know and love from the longtime collaborators: Two acrobatic friends, one bouncing off the walls and the other a little sultry and seductive, donning clown makeup and infusing their story with a dash of queer will-they/won’t-they energy.

Their 2025 production of A Letter to Lyndon B. Johnson... was mesmerizing in its exploration of innocent youth; What If They Ate the Baby?, also presented in NYC last year, was more bawdry, absurd-style fun, purposefully and delightfully theatrical. And Then The Rodeo Burned Down mixes a bit of both show’s recipes together, then bakes a whole new cake that spins Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland’s established archetypes on their heads. With its meta-theatrical plot twist, Rodeo proves that Xhloe and Natasha know exactly what they’re doing.

Scenic designer Emmie Finckel turns Ars Nova’s space into a rodeo-in-the-round, where we find Dale (Rice), a rodeo clown, battling their newly-emerged shadow, Dilly Dally (Roland). Dilly Dally has a pubescent energy, eager for their first kiss but also quick to mock Dale’s dreams of getting promoted to the status of a real cowboy. Like What If They Ate The Baby?, Rodeo relies on multiple dance sequences set to music with thematically obvious lyrics, but the choice is more fitting in the world of Rodeo — Dale is, after all, a performer, eager to perfect their routine and appearance to prove their worth to Barnaby the Cowboy (also Roland, infused with Dolly Parton).

It’s near-impossible not to spoil Rodeo's twist, which has a short enough runtime that not writing about the latter half would be negligent. If you’re wondering why the rodeo burned down, or if the act was perhaps arson, you’ll either be disappointed or thrilled by the ambiguity. When the lights go out and Ars Nova is enclosed in full darkness, Xhloe and Natasha’s tongue-in-cheek commentary anchors us in our new un-reality. (“And it was just getting good!”, chirps the Performer Formerly Known As Dale.) The clowns find themselves stuck in a time loop with a mystery to solve and fake cigarettes to light with real fire. Time breaks down, roles are reassigned, and dozens of prop cigarettes fall from the rafters. What if the real burning rodeo was in our hearts all along?

The charm of the show's latter half lies in an overlapping monologue about paying your dues to be able to afford — with both your reputation and your literal wallet — the art you want to make. This screed will hit home for many in the audience, though it may feel different for the onstage duo than it did in 2022, when they were struggling to debut Rodeo at the postponed Fringe; since then, they’ve performed it at Netflix’s comedy festival in Los Angeles. In an era when clown is elbowing its way into the mainstream, Xhloe and Natasha are cartwheeling right to the front.

And Then The Rodeo Burned Down summary

And Then The Rodeo Burned Down follows Dale (Xhloe Rice), a rodeo clown who wants to one day become a real cowboy. When Dale’s persistent shadow, Dilly Dally (Natasha Roland), asks if Dale is truly happy working at the rodeo, “the best place in the world,” the cheery façade of both the characters and their workplace begins to break down. Along the way, Xhloe and Natasha both don costume pieces to play other characters, including Barnaby the Cowboy and Arnold, a bull Dale has known and trained since birth.

What to expect at And Then The Rodeo Burned Down

And Then The Rodeo Burned Down runs approximately 70 minutes without an intermission.

Scenic designer Emmie Finckel has turned Ars Nova’s space into a partial in-the-round experience, with a small amount of bench seating surrounding an elevated circular stage and more tiered seating on two sides.

While it’s not as rowdy as an actual rodeo, the atmosphere at Ars Nova is more relaxed than other theatre spaces. You wouldn’t be out of place cheering or whooping.

And Then The Rodeo Burned Down features discussions of suicidal ideation and animal abuse. The show also extensively mimics cigarette smoking.

What audiences are saying about And Then The Rodeo Burned Down

• In a video review, Instagram user Ben Lebofsky says Xhloe and Natasha are “mesmerizing to watch” and describes the duo as “geniuses.”
• Playwright Stephen Kearley writes on Mezzanine that And Then The Rodeo Burned Down “manages to be deeply silly and completely sincere at the exact same time.”
• Mezzanine user Jeffrey Rubel praises Emmie Finckel’s scenic design and Angelo Sagnelli’s lighting design.

Who should see And Then The Rodeo Burned Down

• Fans of the Edinburgh Fringe experience and the festival's shows won’t want to miss the latest showing from the three-time Fringe First award winners.
• Clown is having a moment (according to, among others, Vulture). If you’ve enjoyed recent shows from other local NYC clowns like Meaghan Robichaud or Julia Masli, you’ll feel at home at a Xhloe and Natasha show.
• Xhloe and Natasha performed And Then The Rodeo Burned Down at Ars Nova’s ANT Fest in 2025. If you fell fort other ANT Fest standouts, like The Goddamn Tooney Lunes (co-created by Rodeo co-sound designer Carsen Joenk), you should head on down to the rodeo.

Learn more about And Then The Rodeo Burned Down off Broadway

To survive in the theatre industry today as a clown, it helps to have a cult following. Xhloe and Natasha have grown into New York indie theatre royalty over the past year, reaching “if you know, you know” status among the city’s culture vultures. And Then The Rodeo Burned Down could well have been more of the same from the duo, and it likely would have been just as fun of a night at the theatre. But by interrupting their story’s own momentum to look inward at the characters they’ve created and the roles we now expect them to play, Xhloe and Natasha prove their worth as writers as much as performers.

Learn more and get And Then the Rodeo Burned Down tickets on New York Theatre Guide. And Then the Rodeo Burned Down is at Ars Nova through July 2.

Photo credit: And Then the Rodeo Burned Down. (Photos by Ben Arons)