Directors' Notes by Steve Mcnicholas Stomp Was First Performed at The

Directors’ Notes by Steve McNicholas Stomp was first performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 1991 after a brief tryout in its home town of Brighton, UK, the previous year. It had grown out of a 10 year collaboration between Luke Cresswell and myself, Steve McNicholas, as street performers and musicians. Each of us had musical backgrounds, but we were both drawn to physical, comedic theatre. Luke had already garnered a reputation for making rhythms with found objects when he happened to see the Burundi drummers playing open air in Covent Garden, London. A week later he had choreographed a routine involving metal trashcans (or dustbins, as they're known in the UK) which later became the starting point for Stomp. Stomp's first big success came with a string of festival appearances in Australia, early in 1992, which has led to some confusion over its British origins. For the first three years, it continued as a festival show, touring the world and making a Coca Cola commercial en route. It was Stomp's arrival at the Orpheum theatre in New York in February 1994 which changed everything. Luke and I had to create a second company, using U.S. performers, and in doing so, discovered new life and new potential in the show. Now in its 14th year in New York and its 5th year in London's West End, Stomp also tours continuously around the world, with full time US and European touring companies. Luke and I consider each production a reinvention of the original show: every performer bringing something of themselves to the show, and helping give each company its own unique character. Without dialogue, but utilizing the universal languages of rhythm and physical comedy, Stomp has proved to be successful wherever it has been performed: from Japan to Brazil, Russia to South Africa. Stomp has performed in over 40 countries worldwide and pays return visits to almost all of them. On TV, Stomp, has performed at the Oscars, the Emmys and twice at the Royal Variety Show in London. On New Years Eve 1999 Stomp also performed as part of America's Millennium event, live on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Guest appearances have included “Roseanne,” “Mad About You” and the Quincy Jones' album "Q's Jook Joint". In 1997, our first DVD, Stomp Out Loud was released: it began as a TV special for HBO, and was created as a reinvention of the stage show and an expansion of the concepts behind it. It received four Emmy nominations (winning one for best editing). Our previous short film, brooms, had also been nominated for an Academy Award. In 2001, Luke and I created and directed Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey for IMAX theatres. It was an exploration of the rhythms of the world, and a tribute to the people that have inspired us, including the Kodo drummers of Japan and Eva Yerbabuena, a major flamenco artist from Granada, Spain. The film went on to win several awards at international festivals, including Best Film at the IMAX annual GSTA conference and the festival of large format cinema at La Geode, Paris. Stomp was the fastest selling show ever to play the Royal Festival Hall in London, breaking a record set by Frank Sinatra in 1972. We repeated this feat at the Sydney Opera House in January 2007 with our symphonic exploration of found sound, the Lost and Found Orchestra. This orchestra, with a Stomp rhythm section at its heart, was originally created for the 40th anniversary of the Brighton Festival in May 2006. Stomp has often performed in Las Vegas, as part of its North American touring, and has received many offers to stay here. It was only when the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino offered the opportunity to revisit and reinvent the show within its own environment, that we felt the time was right for a new Vegas version of our work. Stomp Out Loud on stage, expands on the show, explores new routines and new choreography, whilst remaining true to the original concepts of Stomp. .

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