STOMP!

Finding a respected play with no sex, no love, and no women singing is a difficult task indeed. This must have been a dilemma for the student council when they decided to take YU out to a play during orientation week. Finally it hit them; “STOMP,” the popular off Broadway show which features people making music with janitorial tools, would be the perfect solution. Hence, during orientation week the student council managed to give a good part of both YC and Stern...a massive headache.

In small lettering, on page nineteen, the play’s playbill, reads Stomp is performed with out an intermission.” This line should be printed on every ticket as a surgeon’s general warning. It’s not that I was not impressed with the incredible percussions one can make with a broom, I totally acknowledge that each performer must be incredibly talented. The problem is basically that the show is too long.

The play is made up of approximately nine thirteen-minute acts, of which each of them in its own right is astounding and amusing. If the play was over in three acts it would have been an enjoyable evening. There is no reason to play all nine acts; it is just the same gimmick every time. The actors expect that by the seventh number we should still be surprised that they can make music with spoons. It is at this time when the audience starts to appreciate the creation of the musical instrument. During the eighth act, I for the first time yearned for the sweet sounds of the cello, the moving harmonies of the piano, or even the cheerful ping of the triangle. I mean after an hour the show starts to sound like an annoying neighbor endlessly knocking on the door. The show should have been called “STOP!”

“Stomp” had the potential of being a good full length play; it just needed characters. I wanted to see stomping with personality. “Cats” has no plot either, but it has characters. It is the stage personalities that make the show. Personality instills flavor into whatever is being done, even if it is banging tubes on the floor. Interesting characterization would have created the intrigue necessary to carry the show for two hours.

The only “stomper” that expressed personality and aroused intrigue was Anthony Sparks. He single-handedly stole the show. This skinny flamboyant African-American stomped with style. He enhanced his motions with slinky femininity. His provocative twists subtly added sexuality to the dance (and not just any sexuality, but homosexuality). This was incredibly refreshing being that the rest of the cast, including the two women seemed exceedingly macho. But while the audience could not get enough of him, the cast seemed almost embarrassed by Anthony. This was yet another flaw in this romp.
The play’s rave reviews and popularity only exemplify a current phenomenon, the new respect for bohemia. “Vive la boheme.” Bohemia (as a movement), dead for almost two decades now, seems to have come back to life and to have taken theater by storm. The media seems to be attracted to this counter culture. Anything that in the slightest form challenges the traditional form of culture is automatically brilliant. Just look at the success of “Rent.” It won the Tony award for best musical, and is the hardest play to get tickets to. Yet after waiting a whole day to get twenty dollar front row seats, I was extremely disappointed with the play. It was loud, overacted, and simple. There was no emotion that lingered on with you after the play. There was no tune that you find yourself humming the next day at work. In short, as a musical, Rent sucked! Yet, because it represents the rebirth of bohemia, it is now the best reviewed play on Broadway. People say they like Rent just to fit in with the latest fad. Stomp’s bohemian tones certainly accounts for it’s success.

To end on a lighter note, if I had to pick a play to attend, that could not have sex, love, or kol isha, I would choose the new play Barrymore. Christopher Plummer (of The Sound of Music fame) returns to Broadway and gives a knock-out performance. The play is smart, funny and touching. A full review of this play will follow in a few weeks. For now, keep this in mind: If you are interested in music, learn to play an instrument, not the broom.