Review: STOMP Storms into Broadway Sacramento

Boom! Swish. Crash! The percussive phenomenon that is Stomp has arrived in Sacramento, fittingly, in the arms of a storm. The explosive energy has been riveting audiences since its inception in 1991. Stomp currently has four productions running concurrently: the ongoing show at the Orpheum Theatre in New York, a permanent London company, and tours in North America and Europe.

Set on a stage made to look like an urban jungle, Stomp opens with the cast coming in, one by one, pushing a broom. I first wondered how the brooms were going to make noise. It didn't take long for me to change my thinking and wonder what in the world they were made out of. I've never owned a broom that could take a beating like that! The trend continues throughout the show-combative can lids, pas de deux of poles, human percussion pendulums, and much more. They truly use everything, including the kitchen sink.

Stomp is more than noise, though. It is a stunning visual display. It is stand up comedy without words. It is tribal rhythms with astonishing athleticism. It is balletic choreography of cans flying across the stage and shopping carts colliding. I can't even push a shopping cart without running my foot over. Granted, not all numbers are created equal but, as a whole, the show is a bone-thumping, chest-rattling, rhythmic wonder that will reverberate through your soul.

The show's co-founder, Luke Cresswell, says that the performers "make a rhythm out of anything we can get our hands on that makes a sound." Truly, they do. Even the audience. Seeing Stomp won't be like coming to see any of the other musicals of the season. It will, however, introduce or reinforce the idea that anything can be used to make the wonder that is music and it will encourage artists with the knowledge that art is anything you wish it to be.

Tickets for Stomp start at $26 and are available now at the Wells Fargo Pavilion Box Office, 1419 H Street, Sacramento, or by calling (916) 557-1999; they are also available at the Community Center Theater Box Office, 1301 L Street, Sacramento, or by calling (916) 808-5181, or online at BroadwaySacramento.com. Groups of 12 or more can reserve tickets by calling (916) 557-1198.

Photo: Company of Stomp created by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas presented by Broadway on Tour at the Sacramento Community Center Theater Feb. 1-10, 2019. (c) Steve McNicholas.