When I asked my friend Martin which show I must see whilst in NYC; he mentioned FUERZA BRUTA NYC. He warned me, ‘Don’t look at any spoilers online’. Of course I forgot and was completely gobsmacked when I checked some YouTube clips before I left Toronto. FUERZA BRUTA NYC became a huge part of my NYC trip vision.
Now there is good news and bad news. The good news is, is that you can see FUERZA BRUTA NYC – Now! If you have time over the American Thanksgiving and are in NYC; buy a ticket fast!
Why? What’s with the sense of urgency? Well, FUERZA BRUTA NYC is concluding their Off-Broadway run in January 2014 (it has been running since October 24, 2007). In the run up towards the holidays – time is ticking. Grab a bunch of tickets for family, friends, and visitors and give them a brilliant pre-holiday treat.
Let me tell you why.
When I met up with my friends Ham’s the night of the performance I was so excited. I’ve never been a girl who likes to sit down and watch a musical per se of a traditional Broadway box show. FUERZA BRUTA NYC fit my bill perfectly.
A description online, describes FUERZA BRUTA NYC as a ‘non-stop collision of dynamic music, visceral emotion, and kinetic aerial imagery’. I would liken it to Cirque de Soleil on crack meets goodie two shoes La La La Human Steps personally.
After Ham’s and I dropped our coats off we went up to the main staging area. Shortly after our arrival mist filled the room. People I sensed were excited and felt a bit anxious too. Soon an African American man started walking on a treadmill harnessed to a crane along to a bumping soundtrack as the audience stood around wondering what was happening. A performance piece? A pre-dance warm up? It seemed like my fellow audience members were familiar with this segment online but were transfixed about how close we were. We were not in ‘Kansas’ anymore.
The man started to run and a loud gunshot was heard and he fell. It was alarming and upsetting. He got up again and thus started the same process. After a while a massive screen of paper and boxes was flung into him and he began to run. Again – anxiety but at the same time I was feeling invigorated and very sweaty. The audience was milling about as the stage technicians moved the treadmill, grabbed paper and asked the audience to either move closer or farther away depending on the performance sequencing. It was incredible to watch and nothing I have ever seen before. FUERZA BRUTA was definitely flooding my senses. This was indeed a 360° heart-pounding theatrical experience!
As we progressed throughout the show – the man now started to run full throttle through a series of moving walls and women frolicked in a watery world suspended just inches above the audience. We were tasked to dwell upon the characters, the staging, the mist, the rain, the pool of water that lay above us, spewing paper, dancing minions in a moving crated box, questioning if we should dance along with the characters or stand and watch like uptight participants, ducking unfolding cardboard boxes and observing audience members shaking rusty tail feathers. At times I felt like I was in a rave and other times I felt like I was in a living art exhibit.
Throughout the production I observed the themes of heaven and hell, primal roars versus civilised etiquette, water fairies versus all business mortals, the rat race versus nature and simple lifestyles versus debauchery. One can interpret this production in so many ways. The production unfolded almost within total darkness but at the same time held so much optimism in its musical score, the actor’s enthusiasm and the participatory nature of the actors with the audience. Layers of happiness, left over hurt, confusion, calm, screams, tears and sweat were peeling off of me in the space. Who needs a spa when you can go to FUERZA BRUTA NYC to get rejuvenated?
My favourite segment (if I had to name one) was of the pool of water with the dancers frolicking as a clear screen lowered over our heads. I won’t reveal too much here only to save you the intensity of this segment. But be prepared it was tangible, hot, sweaty and extremely sexy to experience with a few hundred people with the threat of being flooded with water an inch above your head.
I would take my 68 year old mom to see this, my sisters, my best friend and my co-workers. FUERZA BRUTA NYC was my jam that night and a perfect souvenir to my NYC trip. It should be yours too if you are in NYC over the holidays.
FUERZA BRUTA was created by Argentinean artistic director, Diqui James with the goal of forming a theatrical company in which creativity and experimentation are priorities. Since its debut in 2007, the production has played more than 2,000 performances for nearly one million audience members.
Voila are the show time available from now until the end of the run in January 2014.
Tuesday – 7PM
Wednesday – Friday at 8PM
Friday at 10:30PM
Saturday at 7PM & 10PM
Sunday at 7PM
*FUERZA BRUTA is dark for the following holiday dates: November 28, December 24-25, December 31, and January 1.
Tickets for FUERZA BRUTA are now on sale for $89 and may be purchased online at http://www.Telecharge.com, by calling 212-239-6200 or at the box-office of the Daryl Roth Theatre. Group tickets may be purchased by calling 1-855-9-FUERZA or contacting groups@fuerzabrutanyc.com. For all performances, 30 rush tickets will be made available for $30 each at the box-office two hours before show (CASH ONLY). For more information, please visit www.fuerzabrutanyc.com.
P.S. Don’t watch the film clips online prior to the show! 😉
Thirty Four Flavours 