Stompa Stompa STOMPa

We went to see "STOMP!" last night at the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore.  When I saw the tour was coming, I was more delighted that it is a theater related production Adam will tolerate attending with me than for the show itself.  Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved musicals, and one of my first obsessions as a kid was "Annie".  My mom even made me an Annie dress, and I was a bit psychotic for all things Annie.

First obsession?  Well...no.  Probably first obsession was Fred Rogers.  Actually, come to think of it, my adult self would have been my three year old self's hero - I still wear cardigan sweaters daily due to coldness in office, and I seriously thought of buying a pair of blue sneaks with white piping on the bottom the other day.  (Did not buy them do to recent need to save money for payment of largeish bills.)

So Annie was second obsession.  My life from age three to sixteen can pretty much be chronologically sorted into various obsessions.  I can picture the timeline now:  Mr. Rogers, Annie, the Smurfs, bit of a dry spell, Bon Jovi, Kirk Cameron, (I think we're up to fifth grade now), The Babysitters Club books (I was so jealous of kids who had neighbors and could walk to school), Alan Alda (of M*A*S*H), Saturday Night Live, Anthony Kedis (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers), Aerosmith.   When I got to college, I found little time for obsessions as I was too busy, umm, studying.  Yeah.  Studying.

I still love me a good musical, and really want to see Les Miserables in a theater*.

I am aware that musicals are not very realistic. I have never been delusional about this, and I admit, chorus numbers used to bug me. Here would be someone singing a spontaneous song about a personal hardship, and suddenly the random man off the street joins in, and knows all the words?  Of course, I got over it.  After all, the whole premise is a fantasy, for people don't go about singing and dancing when life gives them lemons (or lemonade). But I ask you: how great would it be if they did?

Not very, according to Adam.  He just can't get over the absurdity of it all. 

So, in general, I miss the musicals when they come into town.  I saw "Chicago" with some girl friends, and of course I saw "Annie" with my sister and grandmother...but I have never been to the Hippodrome with my Adam.

I have always been intrigued by STOMP!, but a little wary that it would be akin to a three hour drum solo.  I enjoy an occasional drum solo, but even when the drummer is awesome, I can't tolerate more than about 5 or 10 minutes.  But when this show was over, I was kind of surprised.  "Why are all these people getting up for a standing ovation?" I thought.  "Don't they know the show isn't over yet?"

But then the cast came out and bowed a bit and it was over.  Even the cast coming out didn't totally convince me - there are only eight cast members and the show was a bit interactive.  It would not be odd for all eight members to be on stage, "talking" (the show is silent, except for the banging) to the audience.  But when the house lights came on, I realized.  The show was over.  Apparently it was almost two hours long.  Go figure.  It only seemed like 20 minutes.

*I'm just sayin'.  If you're interested.