Word: caste
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...hour-and-a-half of Stomp consists of a seamlessly interwoven series of such acts. All have their basic conception in common--the creation of dynamic sound and movement from strong bodies and everyday objects--but there's surprising variety among those numbers. One long-haired, bandanna-wearing cast member performs a high-powered solo number for two feet and two brooms; four ornery performers challenge each other to outdo one another in playing matchbooks like maracas. We get solo tap-dancing in heavy work boots, a symphony with drugstore-issue plastic bags and an impressive spotlight number in which...
Comedy bits are interpolated, too; role-playing shows up most strongly in the uproariously funny newspaper scene, in which the cast member who's evidently been selected to play the "doofus" role during the show pantomimes sitting down on a wooden packing crate, surrounded by the other members of the company, to read his newspaper--and finds himself hopelessly distracted by the symphony of newspaper-rustling, throat-clearing and coughing that gradually builds up around...
...itself--a grungy, industrial conglomeration of trash bins, street signs, scaffolding and stoplights--itself becomes a part of the show. At the halfway point, the cast drums a loud, brilliant, exuberant number against these street artifacts while literally suspended from the scaffolding. And in the show's final, climactic piece, everything from the man-size plastic dustbins on the ground level to the tin trash cans suspended overhead becomes a part of the show, as trash-can lids, hubcaps and more exotic instruments are marched in from offstage...
...frowns. His face is an open book, mirroring exactly Misha's emotions. One character comments on Misha's unwavering optimism by noting that his America is "in the nuthouse." But as Misha loses his innocence, his face becomes steadily grimmer. Dobrynin's virtuoso performance cements the film. The entire cast, in fact, merits special praise for their acting. Spotty subtitles cause the full meaning of the Russian dialogue to be lost on English speakers, but the marvelous performances transcend language...
...would be wrong to say so, and worse, one would be unfair to the stupendous work of Altman and her cast and crew. No play is so great that it is foolproof. If anything, mediocrity is more obvious when the potential exists for a brilliant night of theater. Angels in particular--with its large cast, its tricky, complex script, and its logistical nightmares of sound, stage and light effects--raises the stakes for success remarkably high. What we experience at the Loeb, then, is the transporting magic of talented dramatists giving the play, and the audience, everything they have. Those...