Contact was an evening of modern dance and, evaluated as that, it was pretty good. Had it played at the Joyce for $40 or City Center for $70, there would be no controversy, since it is very typical for modern dance troupes -- Graham, Ailey, Tharp, Morris, Taylor, Cunningham, Smuin et al -- to put together programs of three or four dances (each of which telling its own story, unrelated to the others) performed to prerecorded music with no live singing or dialogue. To those of us who attend evenings of modern dance regularly at The Joyce, Dance Theatre Workshop, BAM, The Kitchen et al, there was nothing new, original or different about Contact -- it was EXACTLY the kind of evening of modern dance we see all the time and that occurs every single week in dance venues all around the city.
But, putting such a show into a Broadway theatre doesn't magically turn it into a Broadway musical. To call a show with no original music, no live musicians, no live singing and little dialogue, a work of "musical theatre" is questionable at best and utterly ridicuous at worst. Well done as Stroman's work was, Contact had no business being nominated in the Best Musical category. Stroman and the show should have simply been honored with a Special Tony Award, rather than competing in categories it wasn't appropriate for.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 2/6/05 at 12:13 AM
