Sitting agape among a sold-out crowd in the Palace Theater, watching the award-winning percussion troupe “Stomp,” one is struck with a single pervasive thought: “I could never, ever do this.”
Several generations removed from its humble beginnings as the street band “Pookiesnackenburger,” “Stomp” has evolved into a tightly synchronized octet of talented mimes. Created in 1991 by co-producers Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, “Stomp” grew as large as 30 performers backed by a full orchestra before being tapered back down to its current format.
The show is essentially a vehicle for its performers to make music out of everyday items. They bang on trashcans, washtubs and dustpans, all while dancing feverishly across the stage.
Each member of the group moves with extraordinary precision as every move is calculated for its percussion value as well as its visual appeal. Essentially an amalgamation of performance art and music. The show intends to amaze – and does.
Throughout the dozen or so “songs” the group performed, an undulating current of energy ran through the audience, it was dancing vicariously through their on-stage counterparts. Constantly tapping their feet and clapping their hands, the audience proved to be a ninth performer. This added a special appeal to the show.
On-stage, dancers traded percussion solos in a strange version of musical brinkmanship, each offering the audience something more than the one before.
In one extraordinary song, three performers dug in a trash bag, finding plastic bags, soda cans and other assorted garbage to “play” by banging, stretching and crumbling them.
The show alternates between understated and relatively quiet acts – like the garbage bag – and staggering ensemble numbers that seem to shake the foundation of the building.
While the larger, louder songs were impressive by the sheer massiveness of sound, the more subtle ones better demonstrated the difficulty in making music out of everyday objects.
In one of the most restrained acts, a half dozen performers appeared on stage together with rolled up newspapers and created a song out of the pounding, crumpling and tearing of the paper. By using this rather gentle instrument, the dancers required the audience’s full attention, thus engaging them further in the act.
Central to “Stomp’s” sound – and success – are the pervasive tribal elements evident in the music. The ultimate simplicity of the music, combined with the lack of harmony accompaniment, creates a sound that is stripped down to its core. By breaking down the music to its most basic level, “Stomp” is able to rebuild it using astonishingly complex rhythms.
More than simply sounding tribal, certain songs took visual cues from traditional dances and mock battles. These songs grew into an eerie cross-cultural creation, featuring modern street dancers as ancient medicine men.
The show is decidedly more than the music, as elements encompass comedic theater, betraying “Stomp’s” mime heritage. Each performer plays a character on-stage, including a surly troupe leader, a puckish troublemaker, a jolly buffoon and a rakish showoff.
By adding superb character acting to an already impressive list of performer abilities, “Stomp” is able to further engage the audience by luring them to play favorites among the dancers. Without words, the characters communicate with both each other and the audience with surprising ease and accuracy.
In the end, “Stomp” is a world-class show, entertaining for audiences of all ages and temperaments: It is actually impossible to watch the show without a smile on your face.
The show will run through Sunday at the Palace Theater.
