Stomp Live Review Essay

The show “Stomp” has all of the accoutrements that you expect with a popular dance show. You have a collection of photogenic performers traipsing around in overalls and some available items around the junkyard that they can use for percussion, and you have the basis for a strong marketing campaign – and a global hit.
However, there is a lot more to “Stomp” than healthy men dancing around huge dumpsters with bulging muscles. The fact that no one ever speaks actually adds to the power of the performance – as well as its universality. There is a vibrant energy than runs throughout the show from beginning to end. When people are using oil cans and tubes from vacuum cleaners as musical instruments (not to mention brooms), there is a raw power to the performance. It’s important to remember that this is a performance that started in the genre of street theater, and its fidelity to those roots is probably a major factor in the fact that it remains better – and more popular – than the shows that have tried to copy it over the years.
The dancing and creative percussion aren’t quite enough to hold our interest for the full hour-plus length. Luckily the performers have added in some elements of humor, such as the men splashing up water from some sinks as though they are standing by a urinal, and the suggestive positioning of a few pipes. A lot of this humor is aimed at the more juvenile impulses (and members) of the audience, but the laughter is something that everyone who goes to this show can easily share.