You can't stop 'Stomp'

February 19, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

YOU CAN’T STOP ...

‘STOMP’

Turning din into music for more than 20 years, “Stomp” keeps, well, stomping along to its own beat.

Specifically, performers use everyday objects such as wooden poles, dustbins, tea chests, radiator hoses, boots and hubcaps to create percussive explosions on stage. Now the current incarnation of the popular tour has updated its tool, err, music-shed instruments to naturally include shopping carts and PVC pipe.

“We have this number called ‘Frogs,’ which happens to be flexible plumbing pipes like PVC,” said “Stomp” rehearsal director Ivan Salazar, calling from Stamford, Conn. “When you open them up, they sound like a frog. That’s a new piece that’s pretty cool.

“There’s also a number using shopping carts, where we put stuff in them and make music. More interesting, if you’re into music, it’s set in 5/4 counting time. It’s huge. So not only is it hard to play, but we have to do it with shopping carts.”

Therein lies the heart and appeal of “Stomp,” which was created in the early ’90s by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas. Today, the popular production boasts touring companies stateside and in Europe, as well as ongoing sell-out productions at New York’s Orpheum Theatre and a permanent London company.

For Salazar, who has been with the show for going on 19 years, there’s something fresh about “Stomp” that keeps invigorating the drummer. Take, for instance, the introduction of PVC pipes and shopping carts. One would assume there would be plenty of eye rolls from the performers when the oddball instruments were introduced.

“It’s always fun,” Salazar said. “When you get into ‘Stomp,’ there’s this whole new world that opens up as far as possibilities. I’m a drummer, and I play drum sets. I banged on pots and pans as a kid, but for some reason, when you get into ‘Stomp,’ it widens your whole perspective on possible instruments.”

Salazar added that dinnertime is often annoying time when new numbers are introduced as the percussive performers are banging and clanging on anything and everything while eating.

He went on to say the tight-knit group is tantamount to the Land of the Misfit Toys in that there is no other place drummers can create such a unique sound in a show that is roughly 80 percent choreographed. The remaining portion of the performance allows for individuality and improv.

“You never stop learning in this show because it can change from night to night,” said Salazar, who disclosed that satisfaction from the show comes every evening when he meets kids studying drums who say one day they want to be in “Stomp.”

This seemingly never-ending supply of next-generation performers and audiences is why Salazar feels “Stomp” will go on indefinitely.

“As long as we keep introducing new numbers to it and it’s just enough to keep it interesting for people who have seen it, it’ll be around for a long time,” Salazar said. “It’s not going to go away. We may change it up, but I think this concept of music with nonconventional instruments will be around.

“People did it before ‘Stomp.’ There’s an appeal to be able to make music with things that weren’t meant to make music on. It’s just ‘Stomp’ made it kind of a genre, and now people grow up wanting to ‘Stomp.’”