The show received a generally positive critical response and earned the 2006 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience.
[1][3][4][5] On December 1, 1952, the New York Daily News ran a front-page story of her operation, and her February 12, 1953, return to the United States at Idlewild Airport was the largest press gathering in history to that date.
[4] Then, Jorgensen's entire interview is lip synched by the two actors, who "at the same time [provide a] visual counterpart to every phoneme, snort, scratch, or hesitation".
[6][7] The Jorgensen character sits next to a television that plays a recording of the interview, with a microphone hanging overhead, as in a TV studio.
[1] Nipsey Russell, an African American, is played "in prerecorded video form"[5] by a white actor.
The young Russell is depicted in the entertainment as a credulous, star-struck interviewer who asks "oft naïve or prurient questions".
[3][5] The show premiered in New York City in 2005 at the 59E59 Theaters, Dodger Stages and the Edinburgh Festival, before a 2006 engagement on Theatre Row.