Sounds of music are all around us

By Jerry Fink (contact)

Thursday, April 19, 2007 | 6:57 a.m.

What: "Stomp Out Loud"

When: 6 and 9 p.m. Mondays; 7 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays through Sundays with an additional performance at 10 p.m. Saturdays; dark Wednesdays

Where: Stomp Out Loud Showroom at Planet Hollywood, formerly the Aladdin

Tickets: $50; 785-5000

Rating: HHHHH

Call the staging junkyard chic. The costuming, "basse couture." The music - if you can call it music - either moving or grating, depending on your point of view.

"Stomp Out Loud" is one of those productions you either love or hate.

Like Blue Man Group at the Venetian, there doesn't seem to be much middle ground for audiences.

I love it.

So much creative energy. Thinking outside the box or the trash bin or the 55-gallon drum - all of which become percussion instruments during the 90-minute evening of entertainment at the newly crowned Planet Hollywood (formerly the Aladdin).

The creators of the show, former British street performers Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, manage to find rhythm everywhere they turn.

It's essentially a novelty act that grew into a full-blown production.

In only slightly different versions, the production has been to Las Vegas several times since it was created more than 15 years ago. The main differences in the latest show: more cast members onstage, some obvious Vegas references and a few new "instruments."

Make a rhythmic sound with a nonmusical instrument. Clever, if elementary. It's been around since the first tap dancer, since the cave man beat a hollow log with a stick.

Find another nonmusical instrument. Sand scattered on the stage. Make another sound.

Put them all together and you have an orchestra of aluminum trash cans, brooms, trash bags, 5-gallon plastic jugs, keys and anything else that can be converted into percussion music.

If percussion does nothing for you, this show could drive you to the exit - especially if you are blessed, or cursed, with perfect pitch.

But there's no denying it's a fun production for most, with lots of humo rous moments and plenty of surprises - such as the use of a dozen rubber tubes of different lengths, widths and thicknesses. Each change in dimension creates a different sound that, when combined, creates one of the most melodious moments of the evening.

The show begins with Cam Newlin alone onstage with a push broom, sweeping the floor, occasionally using the wooden edge of the brush to create a pounding sound. Before the scene ends a dozen or so other "broomers" have come and gone, until Newlin is again alone with his sweeper.

While this is an ensemble cast, there are a number of standouts. Although there are no stars, Newlin probably gets more stage time than other cast members.

Richard J. Samson is also memorable in a number of comedic situations. He and Keith Middleton provide some funny moments.

There are more than a dozen scenes in the production, each demonstrating that you can come up with musical sounds from anything. You just have to be in tune with the world around you.

A set of jingling keys. A tank of water. Snapping fingers, clapping hands, stomping feet.

In one bit different - size crates are used to make a variety of tones. By the end of the scene a dozen or more boxes are sailing and scooting across the stage, looking like a frenetic night at the post office at Christmas.

Another scene sums up the production.

Four cast members sit down, each with a newspaper. Before the end of the scene the newspapers have been turned into musical instruments, telephones, nunchakus and other items.

The possibilities are limited only by the imagination, and there seems to be no limit to the imagination of the creative team behind "Stomp."