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Music in motion
[Publicity photo]
Blast! originated with a drum and bugle corps called Star of Indiana. It premiered in London’s West End before going to Broadway. |
By JOHN FLEMING, Times Performing Arts Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 17, 2002
In the same vein as Stomp and Riverdance, Blast! showcases percussion and brass instruments with energetic choreography.
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Nobody could have predicted the success of Blast! Derived from a drum and bugle corps in Indiana, the show won a Tony Award last year for best special theatrical event on Broadway and an Emmy Award for best choreography.
As sophisticated a show business pro as Quincy Jones, in his recent autobiography Q, writes of being moved to tears by Blast!
It took James Mason, a veteran of the Midwestern outdoor pageant scene, to see the theatrical potential in a half-time show.
"I thought of it at a time when things like Riverdance and Stomp were out there," said Mason, speaking from his home in Bloomington, Ind. "I felt that the Irish brought us Riverdance, and the British brought us Stomp, but there wasn't a North American spectacle. I thought, you know, this is our moment."
Mason, 47, was founding director of Star of Indiana, which won the Drum Corps International World Championship in 1991. Not long afterward, he had the idea for what was to become Blast!
Tourism boosters, take note: The idea came to Mason while on a Florida vacation.
"I was vacationing on St. Pete Beach in May 1993," he said. "It just popped into my mind. I could see clearly what I wanted to do."
First, it led to a collaboration between Star of Indiana and the Canadian Brass, the popular crossover group. Mason's troupe toured with the brass quintet for three summers, playing venues like Tanglewood, Wolf Trap, Ravinia and the Hollywood Bowl.
"It really helped being with a group like the Canadian Brass, because that showed us a whole other world," Mason said. "We learned a lot about comedic timing and the stage presence of professional performers."
Next, Mason put a show together for the West End in London, where it was a surprise hit, followed by a strong showing on Broadway. Now Blast! is on a U.S. tour, with a 10-day engagement beginning Friday in Tampa.
Blast!, with a youthful 54-member cast of brass and percussion players and dancers, is a revolutionary concept, in Mason's view.
"For hundreds of years, musicians have done it the same way as far as concertizing things," he said. "We've sat in chairs, behind music stands, playing this wonderful music. In Blast!, what we do is throw away the chairs, move the music stands, memorize two hours of music and thrust ourselves into the performing of the music with our entire bodies.
"Blast! really sets music into motion. We become the animators, much like in Disney's Fantasia, where the musicians themselves become the actors and performers, bringing the music alive."
Tiger Rag or Washington Post March or other moldy marching band standards don't appear in Blast! Instead, the program consists of numbers to music by Barber (Medea), Ravel (Bolero), Chuck Mangione (Land of Make Believe) and others, all arranged and choreographed for maximum sonic and visual effect.
"What we had to come up with is a very eclectic evening that would appeal to the masses," Mason said. "We had to come up with a concept that would allow us to pick tunes and string them together in a way that would be a through line for the evening. It became kind of a journey through color. For example, we explore the passion of red with something hot and Latin like Malaguena. We explore green in the beauty of nature with Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring."
Audiences enjoy Blast! on its own terms, but Mason hopes it will also whet their appetite for more music.
"When they see something like Samuel Barber's Medea placed in action, what I'm hoping is it really excites people about instrumental music."
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