| 
"...has
the power to leave an audience slack-jawed and utterly blown away"
DAILY NEWS
GROOVALOO
SHOW FACTS:
•
Madonna, Pink, Laurence Fishburne, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jaden Smith, Eric
Benet, Garry & Penny Marshall, Hector Elizondo, Joel Zwick, Kathy
Najimy, Drew Lachey, Dave Meyers, and others came out to experience
GROOVALOO this summer at the Falcon Theatre.
•
GROOVALOO was sold out for the entire
10 week run at the Falcon Theatre.
•
GROOVALOO broke the record at the
Falcon for the highest grossing sales in its history.
|
 |
 |
RECOMMENDED! “Ninety minutes of highly contagious freestyle
dancing... nonstop entertainment... exhilarating movement and vocals
from the talented cast... emphasizes the artistry of dance and hip-hop”
“Hip-hop, break dancing, and improvisational athleticism that
never quit...they rock!”
|
(Click on image to enlarge)
Metro LA
RECOMMENDED! “Magnificently entertaining...you cannot help
but move!”
“Astonishingly executed, entertainingly unbeatable, sheer unrestrained joy!”
“Breathtaking, heart-stopping...jumps with excitement!” |
| ____________________________________________________________
 Full
Reviews
Ninety minutes of highly contagious freestyle dancing,
set to the sounds of comparatively gentle hip-hop music, captivates
its target middle-school-age audience, along with adults and very
young kids. Loosely based on the childhood discovery of dance by
playwright-dancer Bradley "Shooz" Rapier, and with a nod
to A Chorus Line, this nonstop entertainment follows more than a
dozen young people as dance frees them from the dark side of urban
life, while weaving their stories into Stacey Quinealty’s
vivid soundtrack. Rapier and director Danny Cistone draw out pounding,
exhilarating movement and vocals from the talented cast –
all the while keeping a wholesomeness that might otherwise seem
out of place with rap and breakdancing. The majority of the big
moments come from male energy, including acrobatic feats, but the
production also gives female freestylers plenty of show-off time.
Even a few undercurrents of urban blight and violence are dealt
with in a suburban kid-friendly fashion that emphasizes the artistry
of dance and hip-hop. Falcon Theater,4252 Riverside Dr.,Burbank;
Thurs.-Sat.,8 p.m.; Sun.,4 p.m.; thru Aug. 28. (818) 955-8101. Written
07/22/2005 (Tom Provenzano)
West Southern CA July 13, 2005
GROOVALOO Reviewed By Melinda Schupmann
What's Groovaloo? It's hip-hop, break dancing, and improvisational
athleticism that never quit. It's a quintessential celebratory event
that produces an audience that would love to leap to its collective
feet and join in. However, not many normal humans could perform
the wondrous gyrations that look so easy and must be incredibly
difficult to perform. It's the Cirque du Soleil of the street.
The Groovaloos are 15 young hip-hop and freestyle dancers who tell
their stories through narration, often with a common poetic voice,
while they dazzle as a collective dance ensemble. With contagious
joie de vivre, they watch and appreciate one another's moves, sometimes
in synchronization as a group or as duos and solos. One may head-spin
for 12 or 14 revolutions; another might twirl and contort the body,
ending with an elbow stand; still another could roll end to end
a few times and bounce up like one of those sand-weighted toys that
can't be tipped over.
The Groovaloos are more than acrobatics, though. They have a message:
to find your joy. They tell of difficult home lives, or of families
that were supportive despite being unable to fully understand their
passion. As one young man related, "I got a job so I could
get my dad off my back, and he hoped it would get me off mine."
Conceived by Bradley "Shooz" Rapier and Danny Cistone,
with book by Rapier and direction by Cistone, the performance is
slick and high-energy. Original musical sources provide music editor
Adam Rayner with an eclectic versatility that allows for many dance
styles to be incorporated. The score is mostly modern, but it comprises
rhythm and blues, jazz, soul, and rap.
Yael Pardess' utilitarian set is steel stairs and catwalks that
enhance the overall fluidity of movement. Stacey Quinealty's sound
design would have been more effective if music hadn't overwhelmed
narration in spots, causing the audience to miss critical dialogue
Don't make any assumptions about this show, billed as a family event.
It compounds the wow factor by revealing the inner aspirations of
a group of young performers who have found success in shared dedication.
In the vernacular, they rock.
Metro LA
GROOVALOO by Chelsea Brewer
It is my personal belief that dancers are some of the coolest people
alive. Their freedom of persona is apparent in their very existence:
their purpose, their style, their love and if they’re lucky,
their profession. If you should be so smart to go and see Groovaloo,
now playing at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, you too will grow
with immense respect and complete and utter envy at a couple of
kids that make any Backstreet Boy look like a friggin’ kindergartener.
That’s right. Groovaloo is here, and it is wonderful!
Mr. Bradley “Shooz” Rapier has produced, co-created
and written a magnificently entertaining show along with director
and co-creator Danny Cistone. Filled completely to the brim with
dancing of all kinds and the hippest of hopping beats (can you tell
I’m a white girl?), you cannot help but move. With fifteen
cast members thumping out their stories on stage, you, the amazed
audience member, get to see all types of dance from break-dancing
to ballet. A real-live D.J. sets the ambience before the show. Mr.
Shooz starts a bit of dancing and is shortly accompanied by his
company of flexible saints and the show is off and doesn’t
stop for an hour and forty minutes. These people have choreographed
the show from top to bottom and everywhere in between.
A spoken word performance throughout the show by Charlie “Vzion”
Schmidt gives an intimate depth to these performers’ lives
and times. Yael Pardess’ set design is great for these dancers
as they curve and step their way onto every level and under every
scaffold as if it were their home. In fact, every technical aspect
of this show deserves its own round of applause since everything
works perfectly with the show’s rhythm. If music or dance
is anywhere in your soul, this show will make it move and groove.
RECOMMENDED
Published July 13, 2005 Groovaloos
have got the beat
Whatever your preconceptions may be regarding hip-hop and free-style
dancing, the Falcon Theatre's "Groovaloo" is astonishingly
executed and entertainingly unbeatable.
For sheer unrestrained joy, it's doubtful one could find 90 minutes
packed with more aerobically-charged punch than this explanation
as to why dancers must dance.
Conceived by Bradley "Shooz" Rapier and Danny Cistone,
who doubles as director, the entire company is credited for its
choreography. And with performers sporting nicknames such as "Outthere,"
"Lockn'key," "Flipz," "Steelo" and
"Ragdoll," what's not to like about a show that tops itself
with each subsequent number? What sets this production apart is
the insight given as to why each performer has come to this place
in their lives.
Charlie "Vzion" Schmidt serves as an ethereal narrator,
interacting with, commenting on and sometimes goading the dancers
into physically telling their stories while accompanied by taped
voice-overs. In mirror image, two guys perform a whimsically charged
acrobatic competition divided by a rolling frame representing reflections
of each other.
Later on, five men take a "Lunch Break" from their factory
jobs to cut loose and blow off steam. Don't let your guard down
though. Just when you are drawn into the fun, heavier subjects emerge.
In "A Father's Footsteps," Daniel "Cloud"Campos
squeezes your heart as he relates through his dexterity the terrors
of a brutal childhood. Paternally disowned, Campos battles his demons
and emerges rejuvenated. Likewise, Julie "Lady Jules"
Urich literally spins a therapeutic release from a past that took
her to the brink of suicide in "Fear & Understanding."
Finally, there is "The Circle." Steven "Boogieman"Stanton's
near death in a sidewalk shooting terrified his fellow company members
but drew them together as an even stronger, more cohesive unit.
These tales of personal growth instantly dispel the notion that
this art form is only associated with street thugs and foul-mouthed
rap stars.
Lighting designer John D. Palmer's efforts dance in this show as
well. Countless variations and combinations of illuminated effects
make for a barrage of visual stimulation.
Yael Pardess' scenic design consisting of chrome-like platforms
encircles a center stage open area, providing a myriad of spaces
for movement.
Stacey Quinealty's sound design is timed perfectly. One minor quibble
with volume levels, though -- at times, it was hard to hear the
important vocal commentaries over the music that was playing.
Ultimately, these back stories involve common emotions: fear, love,
the need for human companionship and belonging. Perhaps narrator
Schmidt put it best: "If you're not you, no one can fill that
space."
Or, you can base your decision to attend on my 8-year-old daughter's
two thumbs-up recommendation. Upon seeing the cast's rubber-like
flexibility she whispered, "They have no bones!"
* DINK O'NEAL of Burbank is an actor.
|
