You don’t have to be a theater nerd to know that STOMP was a Broadway show in the 90’s and that it’s been made fun of for decades. If you’re not familiar, it’s a show that solely consists of various configurations of 8 tap dancing, clapping, knee slapping chorus line dancers that couldn’t book a lead role, rhythmically pushing brooms, pounding on trashcans and smashing shopping carts together.
It also happens to be one of the most entertaining damn things you’ve ever seen.
Here’s the thing: humans are rhythmic creatures. Our very life depends on the non-stop, yet ever changing beat of our heart. We get around by swinging our legs and slapping our feet on the ground. And we procreate by pounding or hips together. It’s built in. It’s intrinsic.
https://ambaland.com/african-zulu-voices-music/
Now there’s plenty of argument to be made about some cultures being either, better at it than others, or at least finding more value in it, and being more attuned to it. But we all have it and THAT is what STOMP taps into.
The gimmick of the show is that they don’t use instruments. At no point does some guy come out with a fucking trumpet and play a song. The other thing the show lacks: Dialogue. We’re never bored with the sad romantic lead bitching about how the girl likes some other bloke. We never have to hear how some lady’s husband is sleeping around, and we DEFINITELY don’t have to listen to some mezzo-soprano sing some ridiculously high, glass breaking note at the end of some song we don’t want to hear in the first place.
It’s just eight fit, rhythmically inclined people, tapping and slapping everything they can think of.
It’s impossible to stay still in the show. There is plenty of call and response clapping which not only can most people do, but which is even more hilarious when the collective group fucks it up.
Is the show BLEEDINGLY dated in it’s set design and general feel? Yes. Is it still enjoyable as shit and fun as hell? This reviewer thinks so.
But I’ve been wrong before.
So, you tell me. Is the show a stupid money grab with a bunch of dancing idiots slapping their thighs and dribbling basketballs together?
Or are you maybe just afraid of joy and hate to smile?
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