Feb. 1, 2008 | The Clarion
Arts & Life
Conceit Review: STOMP
Page 7
by Zack Harding
Arts & Life Editor
Everyone from bonnets to
blue-hairs came out this past
Tuesday the 29‘** to see the
dance/performance production
STOMP whic came to the
Thomas Wolfe Auditorium in
Asheville, N.C.
The world-renowned act is
known for its great theatrics
including intense percussion,
visual entertainment, and
strong comedy influences. The
first thing that can be said
about STOMP is that their
stage set is fantastic, looking
like some kind of inner-city
junkyard/garage.
The act starts slowly with a
sole performer coming out onto
the stage with a single broom,
slowly sweeping the stage as
other performers join in
resulting in a cadence of
swishes, taps, and slams of
various brooms. Early on each
performer establishes an
unspoken character, we have
the cool-guy front man, the
comic-relief lovable loser, the
goof off, and others.
The whole
show revolves
around the theme
of taking
everyday items
and using them
to creating very-
complicating
rhythmic and
visual
performances.
Highlights
include the
aforementioned
broom routine,
the garbage-can
finally, and the
portion of the
show where
performers swing
from the top of
the stage set in
perfect
syncopation
while simultaneously beating
rhythms on various pieces of
junk.
Parts of the show are almost
frightening in their intensity,
such as the pole-batthng skit
toward the middle of the show.
Also, their seems to be a little
bit of social commentary in one
part where the lights go out and
there are only a few small
flames moving in the darkness
as the percussion imitate a
battlefield-like condition.
At times the performance is
just hilarious, such as the
newspaper skit where the
comic-relief character is
continuously irritated by his
fellow performers. An old lady
who had to be in her 80’s or
better sat in front of me, and
she laughed and enjoyed
herself as much as anyone else
in the crowd.
STOMP is a great experience
for those of you that enjoy
entertainment beyond
television and your iPod every
now and then.
DVD Review: Join the Toon Squad!
by BJ Wanlund
Staff Writer
The Warner Brothers vaults
have been raided for the fifth
time, and they came out with
more than a few gems!
The first disc has one of my
all time favorite cartoons, “Ali
Baba Bunny” (which is a
“gem” in every sense of the
term), as well as a lot of
cartoons featuring Bugs
Bunny and Daffy Duck,
either solo or together.
The second disc has a ton
of fairy tale parody cartoons,
including “Tweety and the
Beanstalk”, “Red Riding
Hoodwinked”, and “Little
Red Walking Hood”, a
precursor to one of Tex
Avery’s finest cartoons, “Red
Hot Riding Hood”.
Speaking of Tweety, the
third disc is
dedicated to
T w e e t y ’ s
creator, Bob
Clampett! Even
better, they put
“A Tale of Two
Kitties” on it,
which is
Tweety’s first
cartoon! But, the
restoration that
they did on “A
Tale of Two
Kitfies” is SO AMAZING,
you’ll swear it was a brand-
new cartoon, and FAR better
than on any public domain
cartoon tape or even when
this was shown on TV.
The fourth disc is from the
early days of the Looney
Tunes, with a lot of weird
cartoons and three Looney
Tunes specials, including
“Bugs Bunny’s Looney
Christmas Tales”, which
includes a version of A
Christmas Carol featuring
Yosemite Sam as Ebenezer
Scrooge.
This set receives a 5-star
rating strictly because of the
FANTASTIC restoration that
Jerry Beck and company did
on “A Tale of Two Kitties”. I
may be a bit biased, but that’s
long been one of my
favourites!