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No stopping them

Little Theatre's "Don't Stop Us Now" was riveting from the word `go'

PHOTO: R. SHIVAJI RAO

THOROUGHLY ENTERTAINING From "Don't Stop Us Now"

Don't Stop Us Now (DSUN). There was no way anyone was going to. Because DSUN, the `dance-song' programme by The Little Theatre presented at The Museum Theatre recently, was electrifying. Great care had been taken in the selection of songs and DSUN's success was largely due to the presence of professionals to oversee the details that were woven around these popular songs, either taken from famous films or borrowed from great artistes.

Sudhin Prabhakar handled sound, Andrea Jacob managed the choreography and Devyani Popy Murali, the music (except for one track which was contributed by Christy Samuel). Chaitanya Rao's "haute hands" created the costumes, Mithran Devanesen was responsible for the sets and Savera's "A Cut Above" for how the artistes looked. Producer Aysha Rau ensured that all their specialised contributions harmonised with one another.

One could not have asked for a more pulsating start, with five women prowling around with murder on their mind. Pooja, Malaika, Rohini, Sharanya and Angeline paired up with Raoul, Ashley, Navarre, Praveen, and Sam to tell the world that some women can sever ties in the most gruesome manner — courtesy Cell Block Tango (From Chicago). As one woman treated her unsuspecting lover to arsenic, because he had been more than double-crossing ("Not only was he married ...oh, no, he had six wives") and the other four related similar acts of bravery in expressive voices and graceful movements of the feet, the lighting and costumes joined in to bring out the right effect.

"Lady Marmalade" brought anti-male sentiments to the fore again when Pooja and Angeline sang the song and Malaika, Rohini and Sharanya matched steps with the tune.

Even in a show packed with sterling performances, a few always deserve special praise. Copacabana (for its immaculate orchestration of movements, especially because the entire team of dancers was on stage to relate a sordid tale of how a woman turns into a sex-worker after her lover dies under tragic circumstances), "Born Again" (because Rohini and Raoul were elegant in the use of their feet and Raoul's voice had a rare resonance) and "To Where You Are" (because Raoul managed to sound like the baritone-voiced Josh Groban, who originally sang this song), "I'm Outta Love" (because professional dancers Ashley and Andrea could have put gymnasts to shame) and "Spiderman" (because of Kishore's pleasant voice and the simple, neat `webbed' sets in the backdrop) stood out.

The Jazz Quartet (Vinod Ruben on bass, Nipun Nair on the keyboard, Ajay Rau on saxophone and Rahul Gopal on drums) played tunes inspired by the likes of Ray Charles. And of the tunes that were their own, most were products of "jamming" just hours before the show.

PRINCE FREDERICK

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