Pardon the predictable line but – Blast is a blast! Neither a play
nor a revue, this high volume/high energy event fits in the new Tony Award
category of "special theatrical event" along with such audience pleasers as
Riverdance and Stomp. It won that award last year. The show’s
marketing – starting with its perfectly descriptive title – is obviously
communicating to potential ticket buyers the nature of what is being
offered, and the performers deliver just what was promised. There was a
sense of excitement and anticipation in the house before the show, a great
number of bursts of applause during the performance and a loud and happy
buzz as the audience left the hall. Just to make sure everyone kept the
up-tempo spirit, the cast was in the lobby thanking everyone for coming and
still drumming on practically any surface they could find.Storyline:
There is no attempt at a story although each of the sixteen numbers has a
theme. Instead, this merging of marching band, drum and bugle corps, baton
and twirling team and the close order drill of precision rifle companies
uses all the theatrical tricks of modern lighting, stagecraft and sound
enhancement to create a fusion that works for a full evening, not just for a
twenty minute half time show on a football field or in a basketball gym.
There are dozens of strutting trumpet players (not to mention trombone,
coronet, tuba, french horn, mellophone and euphonium players) going through
their paces with brightly choreographed routines. Add percussion by the ton
(snare, timpani, glock, tom tom, triangle, cymbal and almost anything else
that can be struck.) Mix in twirlers with flags, streamers and light sticks
as well as faux rifles and swords for close order drill. That adds up to
Blast.
Such activity – and "activity" is exactly how they describe this blend of
performance peculiarities – is performed by over fifty, all but two of whom
are in their twenties. (The two oldsters are thirty.) The entire show has a
feeling of youth having a great time and it is infectious.
Special note should be made of the work of the sound designers who had to
find a way to make an outdoor sound work in the enclosed space of a theater.
The volume balance between blasting horns and chimes or triangle, the fact
that the choreography dictated the turning of the horns sideways or back at
times and the use of fewer of the brass horns than you would find in a
marching band all combined to challenge Tom Morse who designed the system
they travel with.
Artistic Director James Mason. Acting Director George Pinney. Musical
Director James Prime. Staging Director Jonathan Vanderkloff. Choreography by
Jim Moore, George Pinney and Jonathan Vanderkloff. Design: Mark Thompson
(set and costumes) Hugh Vanstone (lights) Tom Morse (sound.)
