A 12-person ensemble from the uniquely high-energy musical cast, known for incorporating into their performance unconventional instruments such as oil drums, garbage pails and pots and pans, not only addressed the media but interacted with several children from McCool Middle School.
According to Whitney Mansell, McCool Middle School choir and band director, “Tropical Productions Inc. requested that as part of a contest, a middle school create a two-minute video of a Stomp production which we put on Facebook, and they called us the next day and said that we had won.”
Each of the winning students, aptly calling themselves Boonie Stompers, received two free tickets to Stomp’s 6:30 p.m. opening night performance at the Father Duenas Memorial School’s Phoenix Center in Mangilao.
Before the press conference began, Tropical Production Inc.’s marketing manager James Castro called the children to leave their seats and perform their contest-winning, Stomp-inspired musical creation, which consisted of several McCool band members creating sounds by banging together coconuts, walking with snorkeling fins, shaking sand and shell-filled glass jars and smacking together dried bamboo reeds.
When asked to describe Stomp, Fraser Morrison, one of the troupe’s original members, explained: “It’s making music out of everyday objects; but it’s not just music — there’s dance, there’s movement, there’s comedy, there’s theater. There’s a bit of everything in there. Everyone can enjoy it from all ages and all nationalities.”
Despite having been credited with live performances at the Oscars, Emmys and Grammy, as well as winning nearly every award possible for a performing arts group, to name a few, The Chicago Human Rhythm Project JUBA! Award for Ground Breaking Achievement in Tap and Percussive Dance (1998), The Theater Production of the Year (1999 and 2000) and The Imax Industries Best Film (2004/for Stomp Odyssey) — Stomp, reported by Morrison, spawned from humble beginnings, “playing the streets with instruments, or with found instruments and getting whatever money someone gives you. We started out as a 40-minute show. The show’s now an hour forty without a break.”
All eight performances will take place at the Father Duenas Memorial School’s Phoenix Center in Mangilao. Show times are Tuesday to Sunday, 6:30 p.m., with additional matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Mobil gas stations in Ysengsong, Yigo, Perez Acres, Dededo-Fatima, East Agana, Sinajana, Mangilao, Yona and Agat, as well as at MWR, Andersen ITT, FDMS and Tropical Productions.
Ticket prices are $30 for children 4 to 12 years old; general admission, $40; reserved, $45; and VIP, $50. For more information, call 671-635-2350.
