Six Beats

The cast and
understudies of
Stomp.

A New Yorkproducer
travels the country with his loud show.

SUZANNE CHESSLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

A

s soon as producer
Richard Frankel
saw the show
Stomp in Toronto,
he decided it
crossed into a new
entertainment
realm that should be shared.
Mr. Frankel arranged for the -
New York run of the 90-minute
whirlwind that brings unusual
rhythmic sounds and move-
ments to the stage, and he
joined with another production
company to take the theater
piece on a U.S. tour.
Motor City audiences can see
it at the Fisher Theatre Dec. 13-
18, when Stomp's six perform-
ers cavort with and pound on
household objects such as trash
cans, brooms, newspapers and
buckets. They present a one-of-
a-kind percussive revue.

"I liked the originality for
sure and the infectiousness of
it," said Mr. Frankel, 47, who in
recent years has entertained
Detroiters by booking Penn &
Teller doing their comedy/mag-
ic act as well as Robert Wagn-
er and Stephanie Powers
appearing in "Love Letters."
"I think that Stomp is a real
eye opener and a real foot tap-
per. There's a fair amount of
shock when people start watch-
ing it. They can't believe they're
going to sit through an evening
of it; but the evening passes
quickly, and they expand their
vision.
"There are all sorts of rules
about behavior and rhythm
that the public seems to accept
right away. The performers are
not going to speak. They're not
going to do tunes. They're not

going to do a whole lot of things
associated with music and en-
tertainment.
"They force audiences into
their space, their way of think-
ing and their way of expressing
themselves, tapping into primal
rhythms and having the plus of
a certain hipness. People start
banging on things after they
leave."
Mr. Frankel, who randomly
joins audiences watching his
traveling shows to gauge their
reactions, has been working
through his own firm, Richard
Frankel Productions, since
1985. He has established a set
of mental exercises he uses be-
fore deciding to take on any the-
ater piece, whether it's Stomp,
Driving Miss Daisy or Bubbe
Meises, Bubbe Stories.
The first exercise explores his

personal evaluation of a show
and whether he likes it enough
to recommend that others see
it. The second has to do with
whether the piece affects the
viewers emotionally, intellec-
tually or viscerally. The third
assesses the economics: the
number of characters and sets,
projected acceptance outside
and inside New York and an-
ticipated reaction of critics.
The decision that had the
greatest impact on him profes-
sionally and personally occurred
long before he began evaluating
shows to produce. As part of a
high-school stage crew in Brook-
lyn, he decided that being a pro-
ducer was the career for him.
At Brooklyn College, he ma-
jored in theater arts and televi-
sion production.
BEATS page 78

Producer Richard Frankel