Encounter 2 Assignment, Musical Performance

Musical Performance
February 17, 2008



An Evening with “Stomp”
This week I encountered the production of “Stomp,” that took place February 5th, 2008 at the IU Auditorium. With the use of a wooden floor, every day household items, music surfaced in a rhymic beat these performers touched. At times my husband and I were truly amazed with the performer’s actcrobatic skills and timed comedy routines.
I have seen where household products could be made into instruments. My own dad, helped me make a guitar for a school project one year, when I was around seven years old out of two alinumun pie pans and six rubber bands that created a musical sound I thought was really cool. (I was from the 60’s ok.) But I’ve never seen such a combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy that was originally created in Brighton, U.K. What’s even more impressive is the history of “Stomp and how it has taken the world by storm.
1986 Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas created for a Bette Midler HBO special “Mondo Bryondo,” and eight minute percussion movie. By 1990 it involved floating drum orchestra and by 1991 the original “Stomp,” previewed at London’s Bloomsburg Theater.
Between 1991 to 1994 the original cast played to audiences around the world, with sell-out seasons at London’s Sadler’s Wells Theater, January 1994. In 1996 at the Academy Awards, “Stomp,” made a special appearance with 20 featured performers and live synchronization of classical film clips and on stage action.
1997 a 45 minute television special that Cresswell And McNicolas created called, “Stomp Out Loud,” was shown as a special on HBO with a combined stage material and new pieces created for T.V. Then, in 2004 the ten year celebration of “Stomp,” in New York, 2nd Avenue at 8th Street was renamed “Stomp Ave.”
With my own experiences of this great production it was also amazing how the audience themselves responded to these cast members by clapping along with them, yelling and watching kids really get into the show as much as the performers were themselves.
The stage looked as though it was something you would see from a junk yard, with Stop and Go signs placed on the huge metal canvas that stretched across the entire stage. Plastic trash container were placed upside down and featured in the center of the stage.
A second floor was filled with larger containers, along with thousands of lids from pots, pans and trash lids streamed everywhere on this huge metal canvas. Two open entrances were on each side of this structure where performers could walk in and out during some numbers of the show. During one scene you find some of the cast member sitting on the floor crinkling up paper, annoying one member trying to work on a crossword puzzle, but still sound musical. Another time, showing the floor being swept with a little taps from the cast added here and there. Floating performers playing on lids from pots, pans and trash can sound as thought they are giving a drum solo with each tap produced.
Sponsored by B97, Curry Car Dealership, Herald-Times, Document Service Centers and Indiana University the cast :John Angeles , Shola Cole, Charlene Dequzmman, Dustin Elsea, Louis Labovitch, Justin Myles, Lance Lies, Michael R. Landis, Stephen”Wacki,”Serwacki, and Michelle J. Smith gave a two hour performance that was very captivating to us and the audience.
At first I was a little reluctant to go to this event because I thought it would be just another loud concert that would leave your ears ringing for two days. But, my husband and I sat in the middle of the balcony area that night where you seen such an explosive production. Be prepared to sit, back clap your hands and enjoy an evening with these talent cast members that will tantalize your muscial soul.

Link to Stomp Video:Courtesy of IU Auditorium
http://www.iuauditorium.com/0708/stomp/stomp_vid.html