Stomp!

[oyceter]

I saw Stomp last week. It was nifty.

Wah, non-adequate description. I'm not actually quite sure how to describe it if you haven't seen the ads for it -- it's not so much a musical so much as people making rhythms and beats out of really random objects. There's no dialogue or real story. I suspect it's a bit like Blue Man Group, from what I've heard? The basic stage set-up looked like some sort of run-down street with garbage cans everywhere, and the show starts with some guys in messy clothing walking out with brooms and sweeping the streets. More people come out, and soon, you've got about ten people up on stage sweeping. The bristles all make different noises, and all the people have tap shoes on (I think), and everyone is doing different little rhythms by banging the brooms on the floor every so often or making short sweeps or other things. It sounds rather small, but the overall effect was really cool.

My favorite segment was when a group of people were sitting around reading newspapers and started making their own noises by flapping the papers or crumpling them or fanning them out or something, including the one crazy guy eating it. Hee!

Anyhow, I suspect I am making this sound incredibly boring, but it was just really, really cool watching people all start out by making ordinary, boring noises and eventually making them into music by doing them in rhythm and by making them into dance as well.

When I left the theater, I was making all sorts of random outdoor noises into music in my head.

It just made me think, what is music anyway, except a whole bunch of random sounds strung together in a not-so-random fashion? I just liked that they had me looking at everyday objects in an entirely different way -- everything, including the kitchen sink (literally!), was used, and this one nifty bit had people just flicking lighters on and off, and another had these people just sitting around and rummaging in a garbage bag looking for things to make noise with. It actually reminded me a bit of those old Pringles commercials, where everyone would drum around on the Pringles cans, or The Triplets of Belleville, which had the eponymous triplets (haha! I use giant SAT word totally gratuitously!) playing music on their old refrigerator and vacuum cleaner and things.

I liked how they made random noise into music just by paying attention to things, and I liked how it seemed to be a music of people, not necessarily sophisticated music that required years of training. Of course, this is probably one of those handwavy stage magic things, because to move like that and know beats like that probably requires lots of time and training. It just seemed like the show was fueled by the POV that anything can be art and that art can be found anywhere; you just have to know how to listen, how to look, and how to shape your world.

Comments

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I got tos ee Stomp in NY when I was there a few years ago, after years of chasing them around - every time I went or moved somewhere, they'd *just* toured through there, so when we went to NY, Mom made sure to get tickets. :)

They were great - at one point two poeple showed up late. They were let in right after one piece ended and before another began, and the people on the stage stared at them, then at their watches, then back at the latecomers, and tapped their feet. XD

If Tap Dogs is every anywhere you're at, go see them - they're similar to Stomp in a way, but most of the rhythm comes from the feet, instead of random objects. Very good, worth seeing, especially to see work boots with taps on them. :)

[oyceter]

Hee! I think we got something like that too, when one guy in the front row got up and left for something and then came back. ^_^

Ooo, and thanks for the tip! Also, tap dance! So nifty!

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Definitely nifty. And loud. I'd avoid the front rows and take Advil or something before the performance - I had such a headache afterwards. :)

[cychi.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think Blue man group is not nearly as good as Stomp. Blue man group was kind of like a visual theater of the absurd, but Stomp felt like a feast for the ears..., one where you didn't even know you were eating till you got through the first 6 bites. I like how it had themes and sub themes and how every performer adds their own flavor it it. I liked how it made the ordinary feel not so much so, and how they made things that are normally negative... like trash, or people bothering you, ... into something beautiful. I also like the interactive feeling to it... like if you clap loudly they will smile and react, or if you laughed they would scoff or something... Aii, I want to see it again!

[oyceter]

And you've already seen it three times! Alas, I think it's on its last week in SF or something =(. I especially loved this one performer who never quite got to play and kept wandering on with a really big broom or little tin cans strapped to his feet.

And I loved the clapping along! That was really fun!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I saw Stomp in LA, and I loved it. Yeah, it's carefully planned and composed and choreographed, but I don't think the suggestion that people can spontaneously create art is terribly far off. I was once in a big crowd of theatre students waiting for a midnight show in the cold outside, someone started humming, and next thing I knew we had transformed into a chorus singing "You Send Me," the entire song, complete with harmony.

[oyceter]

Oh that's so cool! I love it when things like that happen! I actually miss having my sister around a lot because she always sings aloud and knows the harmonies to things. Me and my sister and my cousin used to annoy everyone by doing rounds in the car.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I've never seen Stomp or Blue Man Group, but "eponymous" is a great word which i love using.

[oyceter]

Hee! Yes! I learned it in tenth grade or something and have been annoying people with it since!