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A barrage of entertainment is delivered by the Canadian troupe of that name. In addition to instrumental sounds, expect singing and dancing in many styles and theatrics for every sense.
By ROBERT HICKS
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 4, 2002
It's a variation on the Pied Piper story, only these musicians are playing the violin and leading their followers to an imaginary meeting ground inhabited by Itzhak Perlman, Jean-Luc Ponty and Vassar Clements.
Barrage, a 11-member Canadian fiddle troupe, packages music and choreography into the kind of high-energy theatrics that have proven so successful in Broadway shows such as Riverdance, Blast and Tap Dogs. The group's new live extravaganza, A Violin Sings, A Fiddle Dances, is currently on a 17-city tour, which arrives for three shows at St. Petersburg's Mahaffey Theater Friday and Saturday.
The two-hour production, featuring eclectic musical styles, fog effects, thunderous choreography and rock-concert lighting, covers everything from Irish jigs, calypso and big band swing to Slavic and East Indian music, rap and rock.
Barrage showcases seven young classically trained violinists backed by a bassist, guitarist, percussionist and drummer. The guys sport tattoos and piercings. The young women wear miniskirts and plenty of fingernail polish. All are hip, enthusiastic and know how to entertain an audience by dancing and singing the music of composer/arranger and co-founder Dean Marshall.
Barrage is the brainchild of artistic director and composer Marshall and executive producers Anthony Moore, John Crozman, Larry Saloff and Jana Wyber of Calgary's 5 to 1 Entertainments. Choreographer Brian Hansen joined the organization two years ago to give the group its Canadian step-dancing, Irish reels, Ukrainian folk-dance patterns and Broadway theatrics.
"Our idea is to push the limits of what the contemporary violin project can do," Moore said. "We attempt to look at a variety of different styles of music, different themes and different motifs and then we try to arrange them with Dean Marshall in a way that strikes a really entertaining chord. We always try to push the envelope with our visual presentation as well."
The group formed in Calgary in 1996, but had to wait until last year to gain its first attention in the United States, when its show, Barrage: The World on Stage, was broadcast on PBS in Detroit in March 2000. The show, a handsomely produced one-hour concert video filmed in Calgary in late 1999, went national and was telecast on 431 PBS stations in December in the United States.
"If you look back at many cultures of the world, you'll find a violin in pretty much all of them," Moore said. "There's really no limit to the stylistic boundaries. We play everything from Eastern European klezmer, to Ukrainian music to Celtic music to Texas swing to contemporary styles to straight classical. Anything the violin can play, we try and do."
Barrage: The World on Stage is now available on home video and DVD. The group's lone CD, Barrage, reached the Top 10 on the world music charts in North America. In late 1999, all the success led to the formation of a second Barrage group, which tours Europe. Both groups also enjoy a steady series of engagements at Disneyland and Disney World.
Barrage, 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Sat. Mahaffey Theater at Bayfront Center, St. Petersburg. Tickets $20-$40. Call (727) 892-5767 or (727) 892-5700.