STOMP: A MUSICAL EXTRAVAGANZA THAT’S HARD TO BEAT: Show Review by Jamie Levine
STOMP opened at the Orpheum Theatre in New York City in 1994; I saw this invigorating stage show there for the first time in the late 1990’s as a single 20-something-year-old city-dweller. Therefore, it was quite a treat—as well as quite a different experience—to return to the Orpheum Theatre this past weekend with my nine-year-old suburban daughter to see STOMP for the second time in my life.
STOMP’s eight member troupe—two women and six men—entertain the audience with an utterly unique combination of percussion, movement, and slapstick humor. The show both begins and ends with a lone performer sweeping the stage with a janitor’s broom; that broom is combined with other brooms and sweepers to create a melodic symphony of sounds. Throughout the performance, using their feet, hands, plungers, aluminum trash cans and lids, newspapers, matchboxes, and lighters—everything including the kitchen sink–the cast turn random objects into a symphony of beats. They even prove that size does matter when they play around with rubber vacuum cleaner hoses of different lengths to produce a variety of different sounds.
There is no dialogue in this show, but cast members communicate their message well with the audience—even getting them involved in the performance through hand clapping and finger snapping in imitation of the cast’s beat. Thus, the troupe’s energy swelled throughout the theater and into the spirit of each and every one of us. From the smiling senior citizens sitting across the aisle to my nine-year-old daughter bouncing in the seat next to me, we all caught the rhythmic power and joy of STOMP. This off-Broadway hit has intergenerational appeal, crosses language barriers, and is just as enjoyable the second time around.
STOMP runs 90 minutes in length; there is no intermission.
The Orpheum Theatre
126 Second Avenue at 8th Street (aka St. Marks Place)
New York, NY
For tickets, visit: http://stomponline.com/tickets_nyc.html
Tags: family entertainment, nyc show, off broadway, stomp
