ROBIN’S SHOW REVIEW and GIVEAWAY: FUERZA BRUTA – LOOK UP

 FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP  is a performance piece unlike any you have likely seen.  Stimulating in every sense of the word, it is an inspired and imaginative spectacle that  floods the senses with dynamic visuals and pulsating music as performers run through moving walls and frolic in a watery world suspended just above the audience.  The non-stop action and kinetic aerial imagery is set to a beat-driven, heart-pumping soundtrack.  Smoke, bright lights, dancing (if you choose), darkness, and water (yes….you can get saturated…though you don’t have to), are all part of the experience.

Created by Diqui James, FUERZA BRUTA  (Spanish for “Brute Force”) reminded me of shows like Gazillion Bubble Show and the Blue Man Group in that audience participation is part of the performance.  The show begins with a robust man  in a white tailored shirt walking then running with all his might on a giant treadmill in the middle of the audience.  A gunshot is heard, and he collapses,  with a blood stain on his shirt.  The treadmill of life?  Perhaps.  Later, we see the man and others dumping office furniture and busting through cartons, etc., shreds of paper scattering about.

The most enthralling sequence true to the name of the show LOOK UP, was when a huge clear, shallow Mylar pool gets lowered over head, and scantily clad, athletic female performers slide, dive and splash acrobatically across the pool from corner to corner, side to side, at times pressing their faces and other body part tight against the base of the pool, bringing them almost face to face with onlookers.  A pack of European 20-something guys had a field day with this the night I was there.

FUERZA BRUTA recently closed limited engagements in Antwerp, Bilbao, Knokke Heist, Madrid, Berlin and Tel Aviv where it celebrated very successful tours. FUERZA BRUTA’s Asian tour kicked off on February 14^th in Manila, and will spend the entire year playing the major East Asian cities.

FUERZA BRUTA premiered in Buenos Aires in 2005 and has been seen in Lisbon, London, Cordoba, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Sao Paulo, Rosario, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Queretaro and Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it earned critical praise and was honored with the prestigious Bank of Scotland Herald Angel award for “the biggest and best show on the Fringe – the must see event of 2007” (The Herald).

In October, 2007 FUERZA BRUTA debuted at New York City’s Daryl Roth Theatre, where De La Guarda had played a successful six-year Off-Broadway run.  FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP in New York is produced by S2BN Entertainment.                              

GIRLS NIGHT OUT at FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP takes place the first Thursday of every month at 8pm at the Daryl Roth Theatre, 101 East 15^th Street at Union Square East.  If you need a break from parenting and  the everyday…and don’t mind standing for the duration of the show (a hour or so…though there is one bench there), you will feel transported for the evening.

TICKET GIVEAWAY:  To win a pair of tickets, post a comment by midnight March 24th  to this blog post indicating why you’d like to see the show.  Be sure to include your email address.  One winner will be chosen and notified via email.

General show schedule: Wednesday-Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 7pm and 10pm and Sunday at 7pm.  Tickets are $79.00 and may be purchased online at www.telecharge.com or by calling 212/239-6200, or at the box office of the Daryl Roth Theatre.  Group tickets may be purchased by calling 1-800-BROADWAY.  For all performances, a limited quantity of $26.50 rush tickets will be made available at the box office two hours before show time (CASH ONLY). For more information, please visit www.LookUpNYC.com.