Pound for pound, ‘STOMP’ is hard to beat

Friday, Aug. 8, 2003 | 8:28 a.m.

I was searching for the right words to describe "STOMP" as I watched the avant-garde production at the Aladdin Theatre earlier this week.

Someone behind me said to his companion he was having a "visceral" experience.

Visceral is defined as "instinctive, intuitive, emotional rather than intellectual."

In a nutshell, that is "STOMP," a concert of traditionally nonmusical instruments that touches the heart before it reaches the mind.

This is not a thinking person's show. It isn't one that requires a lot of intellectual analysis of nuances, of subtleties, of shades of meaning.

"STOMP" is an hour and 40-plus minutes of primal music -- though some might call it almost two hours of cacophony.

It is a blend of percussion, movement and visual comedy that was created in the streets of Brighton, England, in the summer of 1991 by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas.

Cresswell and McNicholas perhaps have stumbled upon something so basic, so emotionally inspiring that it could go on indefinitely. In its 12 years of existence, "STOMP" has shown no signs growing stale or losing its appeal.

It has been performed in more than 350 cities in 36 countries. Its New York City production is in its 10th year at the Orpheum Theatre, which makes it one of the longest-running shows in off-Broadway history. The North American Tour has been running since 1995.

"STOMP" is street theater that has been given a home onstage. The set design is primarily a bare stage with a wall at the back covered with a collection of common items seen almost every day: gas cans, pots and pans, road and street signs, barrels, hubcaps and car tire rims, to name but a few.

Later in the production two of the performers will hook themselves to a line and swing back and forth in front of the wall, playing the odd assortment of percussion instruments.

Cast members wear the clothes of street people -- tattered pants and shoes and stained shirts.

There are no individual stars in this production. The entire cast works as a team to create a memorable evening of entertainment.

The show begins with a single performer entering the stage, pushing a bristle broom, experimenting with different sounds. He soon is joined by a second and then a third performer, and finally the entire cast of eight is onstage, sweeping in unison, tapping the wooden portions on the floor to create a variety of sounds.

From brooms, the performers turn to palm-sized boxes of matches, shaking them and tapping them with their fingers to create an amusing sound.

After beating out rhythms on the matchboxes, performers turn their bodies into percussion instruments: hand clapping, foot stomping, finger snapping, thigh slapping, chest thumping, until the audience can't help but join in the fun.

A bucket of sand is tossed onto the stage to enhance the sound of foot shuffling.

Dustpans and whisk brooms and a small trash can then become instruments as the performers clean up the sand.

When the stage is clean, the percussionists use rubber tubes of various lengths and thicknesses to create different tones.

Four of the cast members emerge with metal kitchen sinks hanging from their necks by chains, and the sinks become instruments -- as do the cookware and dishes in the sinks.

"STOMP" proves there is music all around us; we just have to be in tune with the rhythm.

Plungers, mops, wooden poles, water jugs, Zippo lighters, newspapers and basketballs are turned into musical instruments -- and they don't need to be tuned.

"STOMP" is a stirring concert of garbage cans and garbage can lids, a carefully orchestrated and choreographed production that grabs fans by the viscera and holds them from the first sweep of the broom to the last.