10 reasons to see ‘Stomp’ — again

Seeing Stomp the first time is like discovering fire. It’s like those apes in 2001 coming across the humming Monolith and learning to shake, rattle and roll for the first time. The hit West End play has been thumping, clicking, sweeping, pounding and bashing stages for over 23 years, traveling to over 50 countries.

So the surprise is discovering that you can still get swept up in its kinetic spell — even the third or fourth time you see it.

Now Stomp is returning to Manila for a limited “homecoming” run of eight shows from June 17 to 22 at the CCP. Sitting with cast members at the venerable Ambassadors Theatre in London, we got to hear about the upcoming Manila performance, and why Stomp continues to (literally) move people.

So here are 10 reasons to check out Stomp. And if you’ve seen it once, here’s why it’s worth checking out again.

 1. The Manila cast features a Filipino Stomper. Hawaiian-born cast member Andres Fernandez is a 17-year veteran of the play who’s likely to bring his skills playing Sarge — the silent but authoritative lead character who initiates the stage action and keeps everyone in line (well, more or less) — back to his ancestral stomping grounds.

“I’m just so extremely excited,” says Fernandez whose parents hail from Pampanga and the Visayas. “I can’t wait to get back, it’s my first time in Manila since Christmas 1991.” It may look like pure fun onstage, but performing Stomp takes a lot of physical endurance: “We get onstage and bang around and try to look so cool. No one knows we’re actually letting off steam.”

2. It’s never the same show twice. Far from being a rigidly fixed show, Stomp allows each performer some leeway each night to improvise within its tight structure. The special routines are called “solos,” and it’s fun to see how different actors express themselves through short, jazz-like riffs in the show. Says Adam Buckley, who plays Sarge in the current West End run, “There’s so much scope for improvisation, counter-choices, audience interaction and reaction. Your character in Stomp becomes an extension of your personality.”

3. It speaks a universal language. That language is rhythm. Maybe that’s why it’s a hit in every country, no matter what language people speak. Notes cast member Hugo Cortes: “Stomp is one of the best gigs, because it has everything: dancing, acting, performing, tumbling, playing. That’s why I fell in love with it.”

4. There are new routines. Look for new bits, added to those — like the “Newspaper” and tire-thumping sequences — that were introduced to Philippine audiences the first time around. One added sequence (“Trolleys”) is a riotous symphony of shopping carts crisscrossing the stage; another (“Frogs”) involves plastic plumbing tubes stretched by cast members in a humorous game of call-and-response.

5. There are classic routines. Everybody has a favorite. Whether it’s the spelunking cast members bashing away on hubcaps and metal lids fixed to the wall, or the simple pleasure of making matchsticks rattle inside boxes, Stomp celebrates the joy of making sound, and learning to structure those random sounds into something musical. 

6. It’s the only West End show whose members have performed at both the Oscars and Olympics. Many recall Stomp making history at the Oscars in 1996 under show director Quincy Jones — they killed during the “Sound Effects” segment, adding their own footsteps and closing doors and bangs and crashes to the Hollywood clips. Stomp also appeared at the closing ceremony of the 2010 London Olympics — bashing along to Elgar’s Salut d’Amour as played by cellist Julian Lloyd Webber.

7. It’s a unique British invention. McNicholas takes justifiable pride in the UK roots of the play. After all, even the metal trashcans made in Britain produce a particular tone when bashed, which is why the touring company exports boatloads of them to whatever country they’re performing in.

8. It tells a story without a word of dialogue. For a play containing no words, Stomp easily gets its message across to all cultures and countries. Cast member Buckley ponders what the “storyline” of Stomp is: “It’s more of a journey than a story. In the broadest sense, you are coming into our world, and we’re at work; and we’re just gonna mess about and make some music, really.”

Here’s my interpretation: Stomp is a story about using your own inherent rhythm to break up the monotony of everyday work and life, whether it’s time spent at the office or cleaning up a dusty stage on the West End.

9. Since 1991, Stomp has performed to 15 million people worldwide in 53 countries across five continents. Not bad for a play that started in a dream. “We had the name Stomp before we had the show,” recalls McNicholas. Back in the ‘80s, co-creator Luke Cresswell “had a dream of a show in Edinburgh called Stomp. The idea was of a guy sitting on a stage, people walking in and sitting down, and he just yells out the word ‘stomp!’ And that starts the show.”

10. It makes everybody laugh, from kids to seniors. Having seen Stomp thrice, I’ve never been with an audience that didn’t spill into laughter over some routine onstage. Whether it’s Sarge’s exasperation while getting an audience to follow his handclap patterns, or the delight in watching a lineup of cigarette lighters click and spark in sequence, Stomp is a play that appeals to the kid in us all.

So get ready. Stomp is coming back. With a bang.

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See Stomp at CCP Main Theater from June 17-22 in a special run of eight performances. Presented by Lunchbox Productions and Concertus Manila, tickets are available at TicketWorld (call 891-9999 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph). Get social media updates via www.facebook.com/ConcertusManila and https://twitter.com/ConcertusManila.