"STOMP is a unique combination of drums, movement and visual comedy. It was founded by Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas in the summer of 1991 in Brighton, United Kingdom.The preview of STOMP was held at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre and the show premiered at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, where it became the Guardian’s “Critic’s Choice” and won the Daily Express’ “Best of the Fringe” award.
Between 1991 and 1994 STOMP played in sell-out performances with its original setup all over the world: from Hong Kong to Barcelona, from Dublin to Sydney. The high point of the tour was the sell-out season in the Sadler's Wells theatre in London in January 2004, where the show of STOMP won the award for “Best choreography in the West End Shows”.
An expanded version of STOMP, involving up to 30 cast members, was originally created for the Brighton Festival UK and was subsequently presented in Melbourne, Australia. It was most recently seen in September 1995 open air at the Acropolis in Athens and at the Royal Festival Hall in London. This production broke all box office records, which had been established by Frank Sinatra in 1972.
STOMP began its run at the Orpheum Theatre in New York in February 1994 and quickly went on to win an Obie Award and a Drama Desk Award for Most Unique Theatre Experience. By the summer of 1994, the first American cast was in place at the Orpheum, freeing the original cast for a sell-out tour of North America and Japan.
In the summer of ’95, two more American productions were created, they also debuted STOMP in Chile, Brazil and Korea. Meanwhile, a fifth STOMP company, also touring from the UK, was formed in 1997 and has consistently toured the world ever since. This company presented STOMP for the first time in Scandinavia and South Africa and has been a regular visitor to Germany, Holland and France. Another STOMP production opened in San Francisco in May 2000 running for two and a half years.
STOMP made a special appearance on the Academy Awards in March 1996, with an acclaimed original piece involving the live synchronization of classic film clips and on-stage action, featuring 20 performers from all five productions.
In the summer of ’97, Steve and Luke created and directed “Stomp Out Loud,” a 45 minute television special for HBO, which combined stage material with new pieces created for TV. It was in the USA in December ’97 and subsequently received four Emmy Award nominations, for direction, sound mixing, multi-camera editing and art direction."
Source: budapestinfo.hu
31.03.2008