Crash. Bang. Stomp. These were just a few of the sounds I heard during STOMP, New York City's musical and dancing group's performance last Thursday at Luhr's Performing Art Center. The group used every day objects to create a variety of sounds, all while incorporating dance and comedy.
The show started off with just one person on the rustic stage set up, which included various trash cans, plastic barrels, street signs, painted pots and pans and just about anything that could make noise. It reminded me of a garage or junkyard.
The performer started off sweeping, then took notice to the audience, looking around confused. This was just one element of comedy used in the performance, and soon he was joined by the rest of the group. They created a song just by sweeping along the stage, and banging the brooms, and some of them broke during the process. However, the performers were tossed new ones and proceeded on with the song.
There were bits of pieces of comedy throughout the show, mainly from one actor, Sean Perham, who is known for his comedy. He often was the one to miss cues or show up last when starting a new number. Perham also got the tiniest instruments, like a little shopping cart or small pipe.
The music definitely got more intense as the show went on, but each song was equally as exciting and creative. STOMP literally uses anything to create noise, including Zippo lighters. They lined up and turned all the lights off in the theater, and created a visually appealing, and hearing appealing song in the dark.
STOMP even used matchboxes to create noise just by tapping on them and shaking them they created a little competition to see who could come up with the best beat. It was interesting to see what they would use next because you had no idea what was up their sleeves.
I personally enjoyed the performance where it started off with one person using a trashcan as a drum then three other performers were suspended on the stage set and started beating on all the decorations on the walls. They used street signs and pots to create an intense song that had the audience go quiet as they were entranced by the performers.
It was truly amazing how they could combine all these seemingly ordinary and every day objects and put them into a sequence that makes a great song. Their final number with the instruments was the most intense, which included trash cans and lids, pots, pans, barrels, whistles, barrel stilts and pipes. They left the audience with a bang.
Throughout the show they did engage with the audience, clapping and having them clap or snap back. Their encore included the audience repeating what they did.
I would definitely recommend seeing this show if you have the opportunity; it was creative and unique. I had never seen anything like it, and they truly captured the idea of turning something ordinary into art.
