Artist: Stomp
Location: Orpheum Theater
Date: 07.20.2007
Photography: Provided by Stomp

There’s no dialogue and there’s no plot.  Other than to make noise using seemingly ordinary objects, there seems no rhyme or reason for Stomp to be in production.  And it’s perfect.  Consider it euphoria for any amateur percussionist.

An off-Broadway production, Stomp is housed in the Orpheum Theater in New York’s East Village.  You won’t find many fanny pack wearing tourists in the East Village during the evening, which only makes the experience feel more authentic.  The theater is very quaint yet somehow manages to have a capacity of nearly 350 people.  The smallish size of the theater makes the thunderous roars of trash can lids banging against one another loudly resonate through the building, but also allows for the subtle sweeping sound of a broom to be heard from the back row of the balcony.

The show opens with a single performer emerging from backstage with a broom.  He rhythmically sweeps dust from the wooden stage floor and he playfully sweeps dust toward the front row patrons as he moves around the stage.  Slowly the other cast members begin to join him and before long they’re making music with the sounds of sweeping, pounding their broomsticks into the floor, and striking their broomsticks against other broomsticks.  The choreography is phenomenal as they move in unison trading brooms with each other by throwing them through the air as the other cast members walk directly in the path of various flying objects.  

In each subsequent act, the cast comes on stage with an ordinary household item and proceeds to create a percussive symphony.  Probably the most impressive is when the performers use only their bodies.  They slap their thighs, snap their fingers, and just plain smack themselves.  Beyond this, they use Zippo lighters, Rubbermaid containers, matchboxes, kitchen sinks, and anything else you can think of to bang on.

Each act is relatively short and relies upon the performers gradually joining one another to make a simple beat transform into a work of musical art.  The show itself also crescendos as the props get larger, louder, and more powerful.  By the end of the show the performers are literally stomping around with their feet attached to metal waste containers.  The show is without intermission, though, so make yourself comfortable and prepare yourself for two hours of ear-ringing bliss.  If grandpa has ever told you to, “Turn down that racket!” you may want to leave him at the train station when you get off to see Stomp.