Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Streetwise performance

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; previews begin Saturday; grand premiere April 17

Where: Stomp Out Loud Showroom at Planet Hollywood (Aladdin)

Tickets: $50 and up Information: 785-5000

How do you tune a garbage can?

An intriguing question you don't hear every day, but an important one for "Stomp Out Loud," the streetwise musical premiering Saturday at the newly dubbed Planet Hollywood, nee Aladdin.

"Stomp Out Loud" is the 90-minute Las Vegas version of "Stomp," a blend of music, dance and comedy that has been a global success for more than 15 years. It has companies in New York and London and a road show that has stopped here several times.

For those unfamiliar with "Stomp," the nuts and bolts of the show are, well, nuts and bolts - and broom handles and hubcaps and countless other non sensical, non musical instruments that form a bizarre back-alley orchestra .

It is an evening of entertainment centered on the rhythmic percussion sounds created from the human torso, cigarette lighters, pipes and plungers, among other things.

One of the most popular instruments is the aluminum garbage can, which takes on the essence of a large tambourine when dozens of nuts and bolts are loosely attached to the rim of the can, called a dustbin in England.

The production, founded by former British street performers Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, traces its origins to the internationally acclaimed Edinburgh Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1991.

Street performers - called "buskers" in Great Britain - have been converging on Edinburgh by the thousands annually for 50 years.

Las Vegas has been looking to Broadway for shows that will succeed here, with spotty results, at best. Maybe producers should be going to Edinburgh for their inspiration.

Entertainers who got their start busking fare better in Las Vegas than Broadway shows.

The most obvious example is Cirque du Soleil, founded by former buskers Guy Laliberte and Daniel Gauthier, which has five successful shows on the Strip with three more on the horizon.

Producer/director Franco Dragon, who created "O" and "Mystere" for Cirque, "A New Day" for Celine Dion and "Le Reve" for Steve Wynn, was a street performer in Europe in his youth.

Maniac magician Amazing Johnathan (the Sahara) was a street performer in San Francisco.

"Blue Man Group" (the Venetian) played in the streets of New York. And Penn & Teller (Rio) were buskers early in their careers.

Street performers - those who succeed - learn how to work the crowds.

"(Buskers) have to get the audience's attention quickly and hold it so when you finish they'll walk up and give you money," McNicholas said.

That's a good description of the Las Vegas show formula - something spectacular that grabs your attention quickly, holds it for 90 minutes and at the end leaves you feeling joyous and happy enough to go out and give the casino money.

In the '80s McNicholas, who in his full beard resembles a British Jerry Garcia, and Cresswell were part of the musical group Pookiesnackenburger, one of England's top busking troupes.

Cresswell and McNicholas took a break last week for an interview in a dressing room containing only three chairs.

It was a sharp contrast to the clutter and chaos of the still-unfinished 1,500-seat showroom, where scaffolding stood against walls covered with items that could easily be found in an alleyway or a junk yard: hub caps (lots of hub caps), car grilles, street signs, juke box parts and a giant roulette wheel as a reminder that this is, after all, Las Vegas.

"We have been approached for years to bring the show to Vegas, but it's never been the right situation until now," Cresswell said.

Now they have a $28 million theater full of junk, a dream of any street performer.

"It's quite funny," Cresswell said. "They're taking junk out of the casino (during the remodeling) and we're bringing junk in."

It's a sign of the times - old Las Vegas favored glitz, glamour and sequins. New Las Vegas leans toward denim and tastes aimed at the masses.

Sans the glamour, "Stomp" is a show that should do well here, based on the success of the Cirque productions.

There's no dialogue, so audiences of all nationalities can enjoy it. While there are no Cirque-like athletics, there is plenty of action by the dancer/percussionists. And it's a show that you can enjoy no matter how many times you've seen it.

Most of the music and choreography have been created for the Vegas production, which features a cast of 16, twice the size of "Stomp's" other shows.

"If you've seen the touring show you would recognize some of this one, but there have been a lot of changes," McNicholas said.

"Stomp" was first showcased in its hometown of Brighton, England, before its debut at Edinburgh. Cresswell and McNicholas had been performing in the streets for 10 years when they developed the unusual production, which experienced its first success with several appearances in Australia in 1992.

After touring the world, "Stomp" opened in New York in 1994. It opened in London's West End in 2002. Its traveling shows have performed in more than 40 countries.

Ultimately, entertainment in Las Vegas may owe its success more to the streets of the world than to Broadway.

"Stomp" is a good example. It's a show more for the general public than the theater crowd . "We're offbeat, not really Broadway," Cresswell said. "We have broader appeal."

As McNicholas put it: "We are more at home off Broadway than on."

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