| Thanks for recommending this show -- I saw the Saturday matinee this last
weekend.
I enjoyed the show very much. For the first 3/4 of the show, the
historical and musical progressions are artfully interwoven (tracing "da
beat" from slave ship to field to factory to dancehall, from African
musics to blues/jazz to R&B/jump).
Given that it purported to trace blues, rap, and tap, and that I'm not
really a fan of tap, I was a little disappointed in the tap focus of the
last 1/4 of the show. I wanted less tap, and a *real* rap ending, that
made absolutely explicit rap's role in reconnecting black popular music to
the rougher use-what-you-have types of music with which the show opened.
Rap has never been about lyrics (IMO, apparently a minority view) but
about *percussive* language and a person's rhythmic and vocal signature,
and here was a glorious opportunity to show off the continuity of "da
beat". You can divert a river but you can't stop it, etc. etc. Ah well.
Anyway, great show. The dancing *was* tremendous... Perhaps because it
was a holiday weekend, there were 5 cast substitutions, including <groan>
Savion Glover, the choreographer and co-star. However, the woman co-star,
who won an actress Tony, was spectacular in all her roles.
My son's first Broadway show. Thanks again, Jay
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> -< went, saw, enjoyed >-
I'm very glad to hear you and your son enjoyed the show, and a litte bit
envy of you because I have no chance to see the show :-)
> Given that it purported to trace blues, rap, and tap, and that I'm not
> really a fan of tap, I was a little disappointed in the tap focus of the
> last 1/4 of the show.
That's might be the weakest point of the soundtrack but also be the
most prominent part of dancing. The very arguable point. But as a dance
fan I couldn't resist the fascination of Glover's dancing.
> Rap has never been about lyrics (IMO, apparently a minority view) but
> about *percussive* language and a person's rhythmic and vocal signature,
> and here was a glorious opportunity to show off the continuity of "da
> beat". You can divert a river but you can't stop it, etc. etc. Ah well.
What's happened to break dance? Sorry, I don't know much about what's
goin on on the street corners of current America. (I saw youngsters are
still doing tap in New Orleans whent I visited in 1993, perhaps for
tourists's expectation, though)
I myself don't dance, but dancing is an indispensable part of
Afro-American music. Topic 541, "The World of R&B and Soul", describes
this a bit. This could go back to boogie woogie era and more.(Theoretically
it could be traced back to motherland Africa) You can hear Pinetop Smith
says "Do the Mess Around" or someting in his boogie. "Mess Around" is a
kind of dance, I was told.
And put Glover in more abstract or personified position, Da Dancer, we
could get more consistent version of progression of Afro-American music
scene. But his popularity, prominence, fan, and economic demand would not
allow it.(My opinion)
- Kazunori
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