Published: February 13, 2008 02:31 pm            

ON STAGE: 'Stomp' brings the noise to WNY

What do 288 liters of water, 40 newspapers, 10 booties and three ball point pens have in common?

When in the hands of the performers in “Stomp,” those props are MacGyvered to make perhaps the most unique stage production in existence.

Around for more than a decade, “Stomp” sees eight performers in a series of musical numbers where household items such as the aforementioned devices and chalk, tape measures and brooms are melodically manipulated.

“I look at it as being a musical, but there’s no dialogue,” said Michelle Smith, one of the performers with the touring “Stomp” production coming to Buffalo this weekend. “The only way we communicate is through music, through sound.”

Choreographers for “Stomp” give the performers a skeleton around which to base the shows. That skeleton calls for about 25 percent of the show to be improvised, Smith said, allowing for the touring and permanent “Stomp” companies in North America and Europe to give audiences a different show every night. Those audiences, in turn, help direct the performers on how the roughly 105-minute performance will go.

“You never know what the audience is going to expect from us and how they’re going to react,” she said. “It’s a high for us.”

A trained dancer, Smith and her castmates spent more than six weeks learning the show’s choreography. Getting the best sound from a hammer handle is not easy, she said, but synching the percussion sound to the show’s dance movements allows her the greatest ease on stage.

“If my right foot’s going this way, I know what my right hand is playing,” she said. “If my left foot is going the other way, I know what the other hand is supposed to be doing.”

Britons Luke Cresswell and Steve McNichols created “Stomp” in 1991 after spending several years in the music business, according to the show’s Web site. It made its way from London to New York City in 1994, where “Stomp” has since enjoyed a Broadway run.

The touring version of “Stomp” features 12 performers, eight of whom rotate in and out of the cast on each given day. This adds to the show’s element of surprise, the creators said in an interview on the Web site, as no two shows will be alike — even in the same city.

“ ‘Stomp’ is only the sum of its parts. We look for each performer to bring something unique to the show, whether it's percussive skills, movement skills, good comic timing or just plain old charisma,” they said. “ ... Each performer has to be prepared to bring out some aspect of his/her personality to create a character that lives and breathes in the ‘Stomp’ world, where rhythm is the only language.”

The show’s performers get as much joy out of its improvisational elements as the audience, said Smith, who equated going to work each day to being a child in a sweet store.

“For me, I think the challenge would be doing the same show every day with the same people. It keeps me on my toes as a performer. The audience is involved, they’re incorporated,” she said. “It’s really exciting for us, and we hope it’s exciting for the audience. I want a lot of candy.”

Contact reporter Paul Laneat 693-1000, ext. 116.

IF YOU GO

• WHAT: Performances of “Stomp”

• WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, 5 and 9 p.m. Saturday, and 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday

• WHERE: Shea’s Performing Arts Centre, 646 Main St., Buffalo

• MORE INFORMATION: Call 852-5000 or visit ticketmaster.com

        

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