I usually avoid public places that have masses of teenagers clumped outside them, but, true to my calling, since Blast! is at a Broadway theater, I felt I had no choice but to bite the bullet, take the earplugs and go. Well it is theater - smooth, slick, entertaining, energetic, serious and humorous, and I must confess I had a great time!
So theatrically impressive was the evening, with its innovative dance movements, concert-level musical performances, subtle chorales, dramatic lighting, overall polish and grace, one can hardly believe the performance was not initially created for the theater. It is, in fact, a touring company of the nation's best drum and bugle corps! There is brass of all shapes and sizes, trombones, tubas, trumpets, and all manner of percussion delivering a wide variety of musical classics, from Aaron Copeland's "Appalachian Spring," to Ravel's "Bolero" to Maynard Ferguson's "Blues," Leonard Bernstein's "Gee, Officer Krupke," from Chuck Mangione to "Malaguena." And not a sour note amongst them -- despite the fact that the musicians are constantly in motion in intricate formations and balletic sequences. They are enhanced by gymnasts twirling batons and impersonating butterflies.
A man plays a trumpet solo standing on a chair suspended in space over an undulating brass ensemble. Dueling drummers try to top each other's technique. A smoky battle scene, as noisy as any depicted onscreen, with flags waving and troops marching, propelled by brass bands, is followed by an abrupt mood change on a stage infused with the white light of optimism, peace, joy and hope.
The creative teams boasts no less than three sound designers, ditto for choreographers (the only new element added was the dancers who, a bit out of synch with the outdoorsy, wholesomeness of the rest of the young cast, are superfluous), a lighting designer and costume designer - in short, all the ingredients of a Broadway production, but the cast occasionally leaves the stage and plays in the aisles and, most symptomatic of their youth and origins, they greet you in the lobby as you leave, seemingly all 60 of them. What a send off!
