Gotham City
Written by Mark Hackman
Choreographed by Jessica Deahr
DCA Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph (map)
thru July 15 | tickets: $25 | more info
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Brilliant physical depiction of city from sunset to sunrise
Chicago Dance Crash presents
Gotham City
Review by K.D. Hopkins
Yes- it is that Gotham City being portrayed in this ebullient and razor sharp performance. Mark Hackman’s story is a tornado of anime and post-apocalypse America seen with a Kafkaesque lens. The DCA Storefront Theater is a black canvas for the Chicago Dance Crash troupe’s world premiere production. Billowing fog illuminates the darkness, as the audience is witness to two acts of a city from sunset to sunrise.
As a member of Chicago Dance Crash introduces the show, a voice invades and counts down the start of Sunset in Gotham City. The speaker is given five seconds to exit the stage and is immediately immersed in a dark world. Ladies of questionable virtue stroll through the streets. Thieves, thugs, and a militia police force storm the stage. The story follows a jewel thief (Julian Devine) and a pickpocket (Chantelle Mrowka) navigating the world after sunset and falling in what could be called love.
The choreography is beautifully reminiscent of Jerome Robbins and Twyla Tharp. The movements are fluid as silk, segueing into spasmodic synchronicity. Choreographer Jessica Deahr blends contemporary dance with music from the masters of trip hop, brilliant rockers such as Jack White, and cinema composer Hans Zimmer. Deahr paints a canvas of violent beauty and redemption. Brilliant.
The lovers clash against the police led by the amazing David Chase in a bravura performance. Chase seethes and prowls the stage as a thug-turned-cop, who is consumed by power and tries to rule Gotham’s night world. The performance is fearless as he does dead falls from his head that cause the audience to gasp and barely recover. The movements are break dancing gone nova.
Gotham City is also populated by a league of clowns led by The Jester (Brian Humpherys). In another bravura performance, Humpherys exudes the manic brilliance of a clown leading a Danse Macabre to rule the night.
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Mary Tarpley and Charlie Cutler play The Tourists in what seems at first a jolting departure but melds into a motif of bondage and discipline. Tarpley plays a severe and demanding wife to Cutler’s meek milquetoast husband. The music and movements lean into Fosse and Teutonic movements that evoke a power struggle against society.
There are no protagonists or antagonists in this Darwinian struggle. The voice of Big Mother looms overhead: in a soothing yet menacing tone, she speaks of electric storms and dangerous temperature variations, bringing to mind the automated voices on the other end of every corporate phone call.
I loved each and every character and felt drawn into the movements. This is a hot show that should be seen by everyone. Be prepared to be inspired if by nothing else than a yearning to bend and move like these artists. Put down the ice cream and go see this show. It’s hot fun in the summertime on Randolph!
Rating: ★★★½
Gotham City continues through July 15th at DCA Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph (map), with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm, Sundays 3pm. Tickets are $25, and are available by phone (312-742-8497) or online through TicketSage.net. (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at DCATheater.org. (Running time: 2 hours with one 10-minute intermission. This production is intended for mature audiences.)
Photos by John W. Sisson, Jr.
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