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     Troy Rating: |
RUSSELL SIMMONS DEF POETRY JAM ON BROADWAY Conceived by Stan Lathan and Mr. Simmons; directed by Mr. Lathan; sets by Bruce Ryan; costumes by Paul Tazewell; lighting by Yael Lubetzky; sound by Elton P. Halley; production stage manager, Alice Elliott Smith; production manager, Theatersmith Inc.; executive producer/general manager, Roy Gabay. Presented by Mr. Simmons and Mr. Lathan, in association with Kimora Lee Simmons, Island Def Jam Music Group, Brett Ratner and David Rosenberg. At the Longacre Theater, 220 West 48th Street, Manhattan. WITH: Beau Sia, Black Ice, Staceyann Chin, Steve Colman, Mayda Del Valle, Georgia Me, Suheir Hammad, Lemon, Poetri and Tendaji Lathan. Untamed Poetry, Loose Onstage By BEN BRANTLEY Does Con Edison know about the cast of "Def Poetry Jam"? The performers on the stage of the Longacre Theater, where the show opened last night, are giving off enough electric current to keep Manhattan in air-conditioning for a century of summers. The hard-working choruses of musicals like "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "42nd Street" can dance until their shoes lose their taps, but they still won't generate the energy found in this gathering of angry young poets. "Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway," to use the production's full brand-name-wearing title, is the most singular offering in mainstream New York theater these days, even in a season that has seen such anomalies as "Movin' Out," Twyla Tharp's all-dancing, no-talking pop musical, and the short-lived French bagatelle called "Amour." Produced by the eponymous Mr. Simmons, the mighty rap recording emperor, "Def Poetry" is basically nothing more than nine people standing onstage reciting poems they have written. But this description, which summons clammy images of the classroom, fails to factor in the incandescent mix of exuberance, arrogance and exhibitionism with which each performer is invested. The poets of "Def Poetry" flaunt their words the way Fosse dancers flaunt their bodies, in muscle-flexing struts, slides and sashays. Listen to the following declarations: "I wanna hear a poem where ideas kiss similes so deeply that metaphors get jealous." "I'm the mentally buff Chinese Hulk Hogan/ disciplined, determined and deadly." And, "Spoken word is about to leave the ground like a plane, chain ganging, clanging like a school boy with a pan." These lines, like most in the show, sound better than they read. You need to experience firsthand the body language that makes the verbal language spin and the voices that seem to get high off their own inflections. This is poetry for the stage, not the page, and it exists completely only in the moment it is being performed. People can complain that much of what is said in "Def Poetry Jam" is aggressively preachy, on the one hand, and narcissistically whiny, on the other. But don't let anyone tell you it's not theater. Directed by Stan Lathan with a keen ear — and, almost as important, eye — for flow and variety, "Def Poetry" is descended from the HBO television specials of the same title. These in turn featured talent culled from the cafes, theaters and cultural centers that stage slams, competitive shows that turn the performance of poetry into an athletic event. (Such places, which range from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City to Da' Poetry Lounge in Los Angeles, are cited regularly in the performers' biographies, which are, it can safely be said, unlike any others found in a Playbill these days.) You can put aside, however, any doubts that the particular skills on display in "Def Poetry Jam" require the intimacy of a club or the magnifying closeness of a television screen. All of the performers are radioactive with stage presence, conferred partly by the hormonal glow exclusive to the young and unwrinkled, partly by polemical righteousness and partly by the immortal showbiz urge to show off. The production, which takes place against Bruce Ryan's abstract streetscape of a set, begins with the D.J. Tendaji Lathan spinning, scratching and mixing records from the 1960's to the 21st century. He finds the warmth in being cool, and he gets the audience's responsive juices flowing without seeming to push for it. He also sets up a throbbing pulse, a sort of freewheeling metronome for what will follow. Yet while they trade freely on the rhythmic reflexes made popular by rap and hip-hop, the performers who slink and saunter into view don't just roll along in familiar grooves. Steve Colman, the show's token white-bread performer, may exclaim, "Rock 'n' roll's O.K./but hip-hop is for the ages." But Black Ice, who dispenses evangelical admonitions with charismatic casualness, dares to suggest that the luxury-loving lyrics of some rap songs are more addictive and dangerous than crack. The show also features spirited homages to singers and musicians, from Sam Cooke and Tito Puente (zestily performed by Mayda Del Valle and Lemon) to Jam Master Jay, the Run-DMC disc jockey who was shot to death last month. But while musical idols like Bob Marley and Prince (as well as poets like Langston Hughes and June Jordan) are invoked, the show has little of the studiously imitative gloss found among singers on talent shows like "American Idol." The poets all, for good or ill, exude self-created styles, which are as distinctive as fingerprints. Rhyme and rhythm define character in "Def Poetry Jam"; they are the tools for extracting a shape out of the muddle of social, ethnic and physical forces that make human identity. The form of poetry becomes a defense against formlessness. To quote Staceyann Chin, a rail-thin Jamaican with a fat head of hair: Imagination is the bridge between the things we know for sure < and the things we need to believe when our world becomes unbearable. It allows Ms. Chin, who says that believing "in any God takes guts," to create a liturgical, magically intoned credo of "the smaller things" in which she can believe. Poetry also becomes the vehicle that lets a bulky, light-footed man named (yes) Poetri, in times of stress, turn himself into Michael Jackson (whose last name conveniently rhymes with "relaxin' "). "My words," as described in a collaborative poem for three voices, are variously "a reflection of possibility" (for Georgia Me), "the Chinese t ornado" (for Beau Sia) and "a flag" (for Suheir Hammad). There is, you should know, a lot of flag waving in "Def Poetry Jam." Diatribes against oppressors — white running-dog capitalists in general and George W. Bush and his associates in particular — figure prominently, and their content isn't much different from the grievance lists of outraged students of the late 1960's. An exception is Poetri, the show's droll natural comedian, who finds a Ku Klux Klan-like conspiracy against the black man among the makers of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Over all, the quotient of earnestness is definitely higher than that of irony, which is kind of refreshing. For all the didacticism in "Def Poetry," there's a thrill in seeing young people actually work up steam about the sorry state of the world, not just their sexual unattractiveness and weight problems, although there's a certain amount of that as well. And if it's content that makes "Def Poetry" worthy, to use a cringe-making word, it's style that makes it entertainment. And it's the diversity of styles, in artful counterpoint, that keeps the production flying. Some of the poems, like Ms. Me's first-person narrative about a beaten wife, have the ripping and sentimental narrative verve of an old broadsheet ballad (the same style that is wittily rehashed by Lemon in an account of an unexpected survivor of the Titanic). In literary terms, the statuesque Ms. Hammad, who describes herself as a black woman who has become a Palestinian, and the wiry Lemon are probably the most accomplished writers, with their gifts for slyly changing and mixing cadences and tones. But literary values are secondary here, and they don't account for the hypnotic, incantatory music that Ms. Chin brings to her description of lovemaking or the militant aestheticism that Mr. Sia transmits with his kung fu dandy poses. Mr. Lathan, the director, has paced "Def Poetry" with thematic intelligence and old-fashioned showmanship, seasoning the evening with poetic duets and trios as well as the expected arialike solos. For the show's finale, all the performers are allowed to let rip at the same time, and the Babel of voices that emerges is eerily powerful. What you're hearing is a noise that seldom echoes through the dusty corridors of Broadway anymore. It's the sound of youth expressing itself, at its most intense and anxious and self-conscious and self-delighted. Older folks may find it all a little intimidating and even irritating. But how nice to smell springtime in the land of mothballs. | ||
| Chris Hayden Rating: N/A |
Troy: have you been to the show? You know anyone else who has? I have contacted Suheir Hammad (who is appearing therein) about it, but haven't heard anything. back with her | ||
| gfunk Rating: N/A |
Happy holidays. My name is Geavonnie. my book has recently been released for publication! You can now order “Time Out” only online at http://www.timeoutbook.com with only a check or money order. Go to the site and click on “Order Book Here” follow the prompts until you reach “payment options” choose check/money order and continue until you reach the end. Print out the invoice and mail your payment to the address provided. Your book will arrive in a couple of days. Credit Cards orders cannot be taken until December 6, 2002. If you would like your book personally autographed by author please email author at bookorders@timeoutbook.com with your message and order number. Be the first to get your copy. Quantities are limited. Books will not be in stores until March 2003. Thank you and I appreciate your support. Part of the proceeds of this book will go to the fight against Breast Cancer. Don’t forget to refer a friend and help make “Time Out” a best seller. Geavonnie. Direct Link http://timeoutbook.com/_time_out_.html | ||
| Troy Rating: N/A |
Hey Chris, No I have not been to the show. However reviews have been mixed from what I heard from friends. In general, if you frequented poetry readings in the past you'll find nothing new here. peace | ||
| SkyeBlu Rating: N/A |
Hi! This is my first time at this site. I'm a poet from STL, I host a spoken word event every 1st sunday of the month and I'm a poetry critic for The Written Word Magazine(I'm looking for midwest poets to review and possibly feature). I saw the Broadway show in Dec. and I must say it was excellent. The montage of each poets original works really "gelled" well together. I enjoyed it so much I wanted to return! Also I am truly glad the "Poet's Voice" can be heard on an even larger scale. There was some of everybody up in the place--black, white, pink, green, old, new, known and unknown. The night I was there I got a chance to chat with Mos Def's mom who was coming to check it out because she heard such great things about it. She said she really enjoyed it  As did everyone I spoke with that evening--a lot of which who were returning not just for the second time, but for 3rd and 4th!!! | ||
| Troy Rating: N/A |
Hi SkyeBlu: I'm glad you enjoyed the show! It was here at the Apollo a little while ago (Fall 2003) and I still did not make it. It is funny though, I remember being excitied seeing Deaf Poetry on TV the first time. It was nice seeing the popular poets doing their thing on TV. It was the same kind of excitement I felt when they started playing rap videos on TV. But the excitement, for me, was not the same for the Broadway show installment. | ||
| Young_flame1 Newbie Poster Username: Young_flame1 Post Number: 3 Registered: 12-2005 Rating: N/A |
Hey People.... I'm "Young Flame", a poetess out of Chicago...I have been to the show twice and each time I must say I truly enjoyed it. AWESOME! |
