Play

The Residency's official poster.

Play was the first concert residency hosted by American singer Katy Perry. It began on December 29, 2021 and concluded on November 4, 2023, with 10 legs and 80 shows.

The first eight concerts were announced in May 2021, which ran at Resorts World Theatre from December 29, 2021, to January 15, 2022. Eight more shows were added later that month in response to popular demand, extending the residency to March 2022. Ticket sales became widely available to purchase on May 24 after a pre-sale for those with Citibank cards. Perry announced in January 2022 that she had added 16 more shows for May through August. On June 1, 2022, she announced that a further eight shows were added for October due to increasing demand.

Perry opened Play to a sold-out crowd at Resorts World Theatre, with the furthest seat being only 150 feet away from the stage. In February 2022, the first set of boxscores were reported by Billboard. She earned $6.98 million from the eight reported dates and drew a total of 32,000 attendees in the timeframe. From these earnings, she reached the top spot on the Artist Power Index (APX) chart by Pollstar. On April 10, 2023, Perry announced that the final show of the residency would take place on November 4, 2023.

Background

After the release of Smile, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Katy couldn't do a world tour. The idea for the residency was created by writer, director and choreographer duo, Ash & Ant, fifteen minutes before arriving to Katy's home in Santa Barbara, CA. Katy and the duo were "toying" with an idea that wasn't working, that is until Ash suggest Katy played herself as a doll, then giving birth to Play.

The show draws influence from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Pee-wee's Playhouse, and Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Perry also stated, "It's just gonna be a feast for both the ears and the eyes and it is like the most laughter I've had in a rehearsal setting ever in my life. My co-creators and collaborators and the dancers and the band, everybody's just like, 'This is the kookiest idea.'"

Production

Perry performing "Teenage Dream".

Several parts of the show have been described by media outlets such as Vogue as "camp", such as Perry descending from the ceiling and being placed on a gigantic bed, interacting with a giant toilet and a giant face mask while performing, and a huge red rocking horse. Christian Allaire of Vogue called her the "Queen of Camp" for her approach to the show, saying: "Perry's playful, tongue-in-cheek approach to dressing really makes the show for us. More than a decade into her impressive career, she's clearly still a reigning queen of camp."

The music is done by Kris Pooley, who is Katy's musical director. He does the scores for the interludes and the reimagined versions of the songs sung by Katy throughout the show, as well as the intro's song, Perry Playland.

Critical Response

Perry perfroming "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"

Play received universal critical acclaim. Mark Gray from Rolling Stone said that "the production was larger than life" for the residency's opening night, further adding: "the show is quintessential Perry, who indulged the emotional, the over-the-top, the whimsical, the psychedelic, and even the cheesy over the course of 95 minutes". Melinda Sheckells of Billboard also gave the first show a positive review, stating that Perry "left another unforgettable mark on the Strip in front of a sold-out, all-ages crowd of 5,000 loudly purring KatyCats", further adding: "'Perry Playland' transports the audience into another dimension of rainbow fluff, heart-shaped confetti and larger-than-life anthropomorphic household objects — it's part fantasy, part hallucination and thoroughly high-camp Perry." Yahoo! contributor Joyann Jeffrey felt Perry "perfectly wrapped up 2021 in a nutshell when she toasted a giant face mask onstage, and sang on top of some giant toilet paper rolls, which sat beside a huge bathtub and toilet" with Play and wrote the outfits used were "equally as amazing".

Synopsis

Intro

The show begins with an animated video of a doll version of Katy inside a box in the Perry Playland toy store, singing the residency theme song of the same name. The doll is then bought by a boy, called Henry, that puts the doll through "literal hell", playing with Katy like she's a G.I. Joe, throwing her in the trash and many other things the are showcased in between acts on the show. The intro video is full of references to Katy career in the toys of the store, like the shark and lion figures from her 2015 Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show; the mouth with an eye inside from the Witness cover; the cupcake bra from the California Gurls music video; and many others.

Act 1: Henry the Horror

After the intro, Katy appears on stage, that is a bedroom set, being held in the air by a giant hand with dirty fingernails, singing E.T.. She's dropped into a bed and proceeds to be followed by many objects like toy walkie talkies; a cable; a sock puppet; an alarm clock; a toy robot; and others. During the act, she transitions into Chained to the Rhythm. Transitioning into Dark Horse, a screen drops behind her, and Katy runs from the shadow of the child that bought her as he tries to catch her. The screen then goes up and a giant rocking horse is on stage, which Katy mounts on. Transitioning into Not the End of the World, Katy performs with toy soldiers on stage, doing army related moves.

Act 2: Flushed

Starting the second act, the Katy doll wakes up in the bedroom and turns on the tv, shuffling through channels until an ad for the Perry Playland toys starts playing, which Katy doll watches in awe until the kid busts in and steals the remote. His mother tells him to brush his teeth so he catches Katy and brings her to the bathroom, brushing his teeth as Katy dodges the falling toothpaste. When placing the toothbrush down, Henry hits Katy doll which makes her fly and go down the toilet. Katy then emerges from a giant toilet on stage, now in a bathroom set, dressed in a toilet paper/towel look and begins singing California Gurls. During the song, a huge feces, called Mr. Poo, pops up from the toilet and sings with Katy. After the song ends and Katy talks a bit with the audience, Katy starts singing the rock version of Hot N Cold, even playing the guitar in the song chorus, as bathroom utensils like a toothbrush and toothpaste dance on stage. During the bridge of the song, it transitions in Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)'s bridge, as Katy climbs up the giant bathtub behind her to perform inside of it with her background singers. At the end of the song, she mimics shaving her legs and "mustache", before getting down and doing a costume change. Meanwhile, she stays talking with the audience and with toys inside the bathtub. Now in a bubble dress costume, Katy leaves the bathtub and starts talking with the giant toilet, called John Loo, as it starts whining about how long it's been since anyone's "visited" the toilet, which Katy uses to introduce the next song, a jazz remix of Waking Up in Vegas. Siting in a giant toilet paper tower, the dancers move the tower around the stage during the performance. Giant rubber ducks enter the stage during it's dance break and perform the rest of the song with Katy, alongside other bathroom utensils like a plumber and others that were already introduced during Hot N Cold.

Act 3: Eat Me

Katy doll is found by Henry inside the toilet. Henry then takes Katy doll for a ride around the house, playing with her like she's flying, going through the middle of his mom's legs, the top of the kitchen sinks under the running water, the top of a working stove almost burning the doll, all of this while Katy doll looks terrified. Henry removes the doll's head, attempting to fit it in many other toys of his like the robot, the dinosaur or a G.I. Joe. Henry also tapes Katy doll to a firework and sets it off; puts her in the middle of a cymbal banging monkey toy's hands as it claps her head; puts her on top of a building blocks tower and demolishes it, making her fall on a bowl of cereal; and lastly, Henry wiggles her in the air before throwing her out the window into the garden. The doll gets up and is surrounded by mushrooms, who talk to her and convince her to eat them, which she does. While tripping from eating mushrooms, Katy doll feels like she shrunk and walks around the garden feeling like the grass is taller than her. A mushroom hat grows on her head as she looks on a puddle and she meets with a snail. Katy appears on stage in the midst of giant mushrooms and mushroom dressed dancers, as Katy herself is dressed like a mushroom, singing Bon Appétit on top of the snail, that goes around the stage. Katy then gets down of the snail and continues to perform around the stage. Transitioning into Oliver Heldens' remix of Daisies, Katy attaches herself to a giant daisy, that goes up and down throughout the song as many other different colored daisies show up behind her. During the song, the stage goes dark with only a spotlight hitting Katy and star lights shine in the background. When the song ends, Katy gets off her daisy and a dancer dressed like a frog in a bikini appears on top of the mushrooms, as Katy begins singing I Kissed a Girl. The frog gets down and starts performing with Katy, doing sensual moves with each other. On top of one of the mushrooms, Katy's guitarist starts playing the guitar.

Act 4: Trash-Un

Katy doll sleeps by a mushroom in the garden, having dreams of the Perry Playland commercial, while Henry plays with his dog, that ends up finding Katy doll, who starts running from him, but in the end she's caught by the dog, who runs with her in it's mouth all around the garden, getting Katy doll all dirty. Henry finds her in this state and throws the doll in the trash can. Katy appears on top of a mask box on stage, now a dump set, as she talks to Mr. Masky, a talking mask that makes awful jokes. Katy is dressed with a tin seal dress that has two beer cans for breasts, which she uses to pour herself a drink. Katy then starts playing the guitar and sings an acoustic version of Lost, dedicating it to "how everybody has been feeling during the pandemic". After the song ends, Mr. Masky leaves, and Katy begins singing an acoustic version of Part of Me, which halfway through transitions into the acoustic version of Wide Awake. The song ends and all goes dark. Katy gets off the top of the mask box as Never Really Over starts playing and the lights get back on. When the song ends, Katy talks with the audience about Resorts World and her aunt and grandma working in the old hotel that Resorts World was built on top of, the Stardust. She then proceeds to ask the audience who's her biggest fan and Swish Swish starts playing. During the song, dancers start entering the stage in multiple haute couture outfits made out of trash, like tires, cans, flip-flops, etc. The song stops and fans come up on stage and Katy talks to them. They then have a walk-off, where the audience votes who did the best. After that, the song resumes and Katy finishes performing it. After the end of the song, Katy begins performing When I'm Gone, where she dances on top of a can for a second. The song then transitions halfway through into Walking on Air. Towards the end of the song, there's a dance break where the stage goes dark and it's only possible to see the dancers. Stage lights turn back on and the song continues while Katy re-appears, now wearing a trash bag coat on top of her dress and a trash lid hat. She stands on top of a platform that goes up as she sings.

Act 5: Perry Playland

A Perry Playland plastic bag is seen floating around a neighborhood, until it arrives in front of a little girl's house, where the girl is playing with Perry Playland toys as is a Perry Playland ad plays on her tv. The little girl runs to the plastic bag as it floats on the sidewalk and the girl tries to catch it. The bag ends up landing on a mailbox by some trash cans. The girl grabs the bag and goes to throw it in the can and ends up finding Katy Doll inside the trash can, all torn up and dirty, holding a Perry Playland sign. The girl takes Katy doll home, washing her, drying her and taking proper care of her, dressing her in a brand new dress, gloves and shoes, and making her pretty again. Katy doll is then placed inside a toy box, where she meets with all the other Perry Playland toys again. Katy appears on stage behind a huge lock standing on a platform. She then starts singing Teenage Dream, but the song stops pre-chorus as Katy leaves her place and a crescendo builds with dancers dancing in front of the lock. The lock disappears, the song resumes and Katy is now standing on top of a staircase. This performance is very based of showgirl performances and old-school Vegas shows in casinos with burlesque style looks. The song ends and transitions into Smile with a very similar performance, then switching to Roar as Katy's dress glows neon. The song then finishes with Katy back at the top of the staircase.

Encore

Katy is standing on the lock, that now has a colorful staircase moving forward, in a pink dress, as she starts covering the song by Whitney Houston, The Greatest Love of All, that then switches into Firework. At the end of the show, Katy thanks the audience, as a screen drops in front of her saying "Bye Bitch".

Set List

Perry revealed the set list on December 28, 2021, a day before the first show was scheduled to start.

1. "E.T."
2. "Chained to the Rhythm"
3. "Dark Horse"
4. "Not the End of the World"
5. "California Gurls"
6. "Hot N Cold" (Rock Version) / "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"
7. "Waking Up in Vegas" (jazz remix)
8. "Bon Appétit"
9. "Daisies" (Oliver Heldens remix)
10. "I Kissed a Girl"
11. "Lost" / "Part of Me" / "Wide Awake" (acoustic)
12. "Never Really Over"
13. "Swish Swish"
14. "When I'm Gone" / "Walking on Air"
15. "Teenage Dream"
16. "Smile"
17. "Roar"

Encore

1. "The Greatest Love of All"
2. "Firework"

Shows

List of dates, attendance and revenue earned

Date	Attendance	Revenue
Leg 1
December 29, 2021	32,000	$6,980,000
December 31, 2021
January 1, 2022
January 7, 2022
January 8, 2022
January 12, 2022
January 14, 2022
January 15, 2022
Leg 2
March 2, 2022	—	—
March 4, 2022
March 5, 2022
March 11, 2022
March 12, 2022
March 16, 2022
March 18, 2022
March 19, 2022
Leg 3
May 27, 2022	—	—
May 28, 2022
May 29, 2022
June 3, 2022
June 4, 2022
June 8, 2022
June 10, 2022
June 11, 2022
Leg 4
July 29, 2022	—	—
July 30, 2022
August 3, 2022
August 5, 2022
August 6, 2022
August 10, 2022
August 12, 2022
August 13, 2022
Leg 5
October 5, 2022	—	—
October 7, 2022
October 8, 2022
October 14, 2022
October 15, 2022
October 19, 2022
October 21, 2022
October 22, 2022
Leg 6
February 15, 2023	—	—
February 17, 2023
February 18, 2023
February 22, 2023
February 24, 2023
February 25, 2023
March 3, 2023
March 4, 2023
Leg 7
April 5, 2023	—
April 7, 2023
April 8, 2023
April 12, 2023
April 14, 2023
April 15, 2023
Leg 8
May 12, 2023	—
May 13, 2023
May 17, 2023
May 19, 2023
May 20, 2023
May 24, 2023
May 27, 2023
May 28, 2023
Leg 9
July 28, 2023	—
July 29, 2023
August 2, 2023
August 4, 2023
August 5, 2023
August 9, 2023
August 11, 2023
August 12, 2023
Leg 10
October 4, 2023	—
October 6, 2023
October 7, 2023
October 11, 2023
October 13, 2023
October 14, 2023
October 31, 2023
November 1, 2023
November 3, 2023
November 4, 2023