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Yahoo!What can we expect from shows at the Granada Theatre that attract a younger crowd? This is something that Break! certainly did. Break! tested the theater’s acoustics not with live instrumental or vocal music, but with the pre-recorded, bass-heavy strains of Daft Punk and Justin Timberlake. And why not? But Break! also assumed such gullibility on the part of the audience that it seemed as though it was testing to see if we’ll take performing monkeys for artists. And that’s where they’re wrong.
If you’ve ever witnessed a breakdance battle in an underground club, or even watched b-boys and b-girls throw down a mat on the street and stick a tape in a boom box, you’ll know something of the charge of hip-hop culture: the excitement of competition, the up-yours attitude, the sharp edge of alertness that accompanies any improvised art form. All of it was missing in Break!
The problem with this show wasn’t a lack of talent on the part of the performers but the painfully inauthentic setting in which their performances were delivered. Break! was like a hip-hop zoo, where street artists were reduced to exotic attractions, specimens of a foreign culture known as hip-hop. “Ladies and gentlemen!” boomed the voice of an unseen presenter. “Welcome to hip-hop culture, where deejays, graffiti art, and philosophies are expressed every day in the urban neighborhoods of America!” On came the b-boys top-rocking and head-spinning in matching tracksuits, the token Asian b-girl popping and locking in a Japanese jacket, the Rastafarian in red, yellow, and green with his dreadlocks flying.
The single saving grace of the evening came in the form of Kenny “The Human Orchestra” Muhammad, whose unbelievable beatboxing — purely vocal percussion — was delivered straight, on a bare stage, with only a mike and a spotlight. Without exception, the other performers — dancers, deejays, and drummers alike — were forced into poor choreography and tacky costumes that bottled up the raw energy of street art and live improvisation into a near-unrecognizable form. As if aware the audience would need help interpreting what they’d just seen, a final message was projected at the back of the stage: “THIS IS HIP-HOP!” You could have fooled me.
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Dear Editor,
I recently had the pleasure of attending the show "Break" at the Granada Theater upon the recommendation of a friend. I thoroughly enjoyed it as I have been a fan of old school hip hop, well since the old school. I was shocked to read the scathing review put forth by Elizabeth Schwyzer, who in her editorial criticized the inclusion of the "token asian girl" in the ensemble and the "rastafarian" as if dreadlocks made someone that automatically. I find these comments to be on the border of racism, even going as far as to label her review "Monkey Business," ouch!
Also, the cast members of this show not only helped choreograph the show but are in fact some of the original breakers from the original scene in New York City of the late seventies and early eighties. How did Ms. Schwyzer inherit more street credit than the originals? Now I notice she sings high praises of Tommy and the Hip Hop Clowns, who may indeed be as super fresh as she proclaims, but why the disparity. The "Break" guys are talented athlete performers who are on the same mission in the respect of channeling positive youth energy, is it the ticket price? I for one am happy to see the likes of real hip hop grace the big stages, it sends the unaltered message into a new realm. The only other difference I can think of is that the "Break" show is Old School and hails from the East Coast, the Krump guys are relatively new and hail from the West Coast. Is Ms. Schwyzer so engrossed in the West Coast hip hop scene that she feels it necessary to lash out at artists and athletes from New York and Philly on the pages of our local rag. I just hope those guys don't read that thing and never return to our fair town.
Bill Burns
bob109 (anonymous profile)
May 23, 2008 at 1:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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