Day 3 -- 1:00 p.m. Time Slot

Show: WORD

Company: Dante' Pirtle

Venue: UofM Rarig Center Proscenium

Die Roll: 11


Before I launch into this review, I want you to see the official description about this show: "An urban musical about the end of hip-hop. A musical satire starting at hip-hop culture's beginning in 1984 and ending up in the present."

First, this play did not in any way start in 1984. I was ten when the movie Breakin' came out, and I'm guessing that it is the benchmark being used as the start of the "culture." The only things that hearkened back to those days were the two songs played prior to the show ("White Lines" by Grandmaster Flash and Mel Melle - 1983, and "Rapture" by Blondie - 1980).

The show itself does start with a bit of break dancing. Some of the dancers were really good. Some of them were...well... there's no reason to be too negative yet. Although, that's coming...

This is a musical purportedly about the death of Hip-Hop, a society in a dystopian situation wherein it is a crime to play the music from the streets, a world in which there is only one place to hear Hip-Hop and that's on the radio station WORD in Illinois. I got all that from the director's notes in the program.

What I got out of what happened on stage: There's no Hip-Hop in this Hip-Hop musical. None. The music is something that would be happy to reside in any children's musical. The songs were safe in their structure, and for the most part completely unmemorable. No hookline was stuck in my head as I left the theatre.

What else I got out of what happened on stage: There was no plot. What was the conflict in this play? Two people who are somehow inexplicably roommates don't like each other. One of them, who supposedly doesn't talk much, won't shut up. A song about love is sung for no good reason. Some breakdancing happens between a couple in the one song that approaches rap (sort of). And a bit of manufactured epiphany occurs because of the ghost of the main character's mom.

Does that all confuse you? Good. If not, could you come explain it to me?

I have no idea what the point of this play was. I certainly don't think it had anything to do with the explanations mentioned heretofore.

The program notes suggest that this play is the response to the question, "When will hip-hop finally be onstage?" The real answer from this play... "What is this hip-hop of which you speak?" I guess we'll have to wait for a while to see it "finally on stage". That being said... I'm pretty sure I've seen hip-hop on stage in past Fringe Festivals. Sorry that these guys missed it.

TEN WORD SUMMARY: Parental Warning: Hip-Hop Musical Contains No Hip-Hop. No Plot, Either

Rating: d4 - "Not Worth the Time"