April 29, 2002
Greetings, Earthlings,
I send you word from a higher plane of existence. In this wondrous
place, I am deeply satisfied, at all kinds of levels. But yet,
something is missing... Yeah, that's right: You! Company. There are a
few who are here with me... but not enough. For, while experiencing
musical transcendence brings me great joy, I am nearly as thrilled when
witnessing others doing the same thing.
OK. Earth to Bruce. Before I turn you off completely with my New Age,
Kum-ba-yah babble, let me give you some facts. Last night, I attended a
showing of "Rumblings," a blues ballet mix of music and dance that sent
me into the stratosphere. It was at the Southern Theater in
Minneapolis, a production of the Minnesota Dance Theater (MDT). The
show is a wondrous collaboration among dancers, vocalists, and a
four-piece instrumental combo. Dancers sing, singers dance, musicians
testify, and everybody emotes their souls out.
The show is built around an eclectic, moving mixture of musical numbers
from a number of local and world singers/songwriters/musicians,
including Cindy Lauper, Leonard Cohen, Tom Linker, Mean Larry, Sir
Benjamin Britten, Marc Anderson, Rogers and Hart, Kurt Weill, Shawn
Colvin, and Mary Ellen Childs. The give-and-take between musicians,
dancers, and audience is sheer magic.
My wife Jane and I went to a dance workshop at the Southern on
Saturday, put on by the MDT's artistic director Lise Houlton, the
members of the dance company, and Tom Linker, the show's
keyboardist/arranger. It was part of an outreach program at the
Southern. You should have seen us prancing around the stage... well,
perhaps not. But we had the opportunity to connect with the troupe, who
told us that they truly dig performing this show, because they can
really let their hair down and be adventurous. Every show is a little
different, with new moments of magic and inspiration, engendered by the
(rare) experience of dancers performing to LIVE music.
I was introduced to this show two years ago by my saxophone teacher,
Jeff King. He blows a mean horn in the combo, both alto and tenor. The
vocalists are Ruth MacKenzie and Bradley Greenwald, two local performers
with amazing voices and tremendous vocal/emotional ranges. Marc
Anderson is the multi-surface, poly-rhythmic percussionist. (The three
of them worked magic together last month in "The Snow Queen" at the
Children's Theater.) Paul Boblett undergirds the show with bass guitar,
and Tom Linker coaxes a wide range of emotional colors out of his
keyboards, his arrangements, and his compositions.
As you might guess from the preceding paragraph, I came to this show as
a music lover. Those of you who have heard my psycho-musical
exploration CD, "Bruce's Musical Melancholia," already know that music
grabbed me by the throat and soul several years ago, and won't let me
go. Jane is a music lover too, and also has a long-standing
appreciation for dance. (She was in a Detroit ballet school/company
from age 8-18. And dig this: One of the members of MDT interacted with
Jane on stage Saturday, and said to her, "You were a dancer, weren't
you?".)
My appreciation for dance is newer and less well-formed. But these
dancers perform an amazing hybrid of (what looked to me like) ballet,
modern dance, and sheer emotional, kinesthetic exuberance. Their faces
are almost as fun to watch as their bodies (although I don't want to be
deconstructionist - I appreciate Fred Astaire's dance esthetic that
insisted he only be photographed as a whole being, not a disjointed set
of body-part close-ups.) Anyway, you can see that these men and women
are having a marvelous time on stage. And Lise Houlton, choreographer,
has enhanced their (and our!) enjoyment many-fold by customizing the
movements to the talents and temperaments of each dancer. Let me tell
you, if I could move like Griff Braun, Kelly Greene, General McArthur
Hambrick, Jennifer Hart, Sara Kaprov, Laurel Keen, Anna Laghezza, Dario
Mejia, Uri Sands, or Abdo Sayegh, I wouldn't hang around being a public
servant! (I'd be in great demand as a medical marvel and challenger of
the laws of physics!)
So, here's my point: Drop EVERYTHING and EXPERIENCE THIS SHOW!
It is in the second and last week of its 2002 Twin Cities run: May
2-5. Shows are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00 PM, Saturday also
at 2:00 PM, and Sunday at 7:00 PM. Check out the Web site at
http://www.southerntheater.org/pages/rumblings.html,
and call the automated box office at 612/340-1725 (all seats general
admission, $22.00). Seats are selling fast - last Friday and Saturday
were sold out ahead of time, and last night's show was packed.
I mean it - GO! My connection with this show is merely as unofficial
groupie. But as I said earlier, I get a thrill sharing my thrills with
you! So, I'll drive you there, I'll babysit your kids, I'll ... Well,
I'm willing to drive you part way, anyhow - I'll be your first stage
booster, but leave it up to the cast and crew to send you the rest of
the way into orbit.
This is the fourth spring that this show has been performed, and it has
grown from 4 to 17 music/dance numbers! MDT also takes it on the road
and does some shows in greater Minnesota in the fall.
This is my third year of participation. Every time I see it, it brings
tears of joy to my eyes, and/or makes me openly (well, discreetly) sob.
I'm going again on the last night, with my son and some friends from
Atlanta. I might even go a third time, if my Pied-Pipering would help
you get to the show.
If you work in my building, check out the program I pinned onto the
bulletin board in the MIS Bureau. Or - any of you - call me, e-mail me,
drop by, and I'll talk to you some more about my not-so-hesitant
endorsement.
Let yourself go,
Bruce
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