Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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photography by robert terry photography (touch) "We had 19-year-old girls and 59-year-old mothers Whose daughters greW up listening to boy bands, and they screamed like it Was a madison square garden shoW." —colin thurmond Roberts is director of theater and Elizabeth McGuire is director of dance. Touch is one of three resident companies at Oberon. This fall the group debuts its new show sexyback: or what you will, a musical take on Shakespeare's twelfth night seen through the prism of boy-band culture. "I stick a little bit closer to the original Shakespearean text," Thurmond says. He wrote nearly the entire script in a 14 -hour frenzy of creativity, with 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys, and Britney Spears blasting in the background. At a workshop reading of the piece last spring, Thurmond reports, the turnout was dizzying. "We had girls who were 19 years old and 59 -year-old mothers whose daughters grew up listening to [boy bands] and had taken their daughters" to see sexyback, he says. "And they screamed like it was a Madison Square Garden show." Even better, they were screaming for Shakespeare. Touch is also shaking up the status quo on the road. Last year it performed at Boston Lyric Opera's gala, and it may do so again this October. Touch trans- formed Mozart's the magic Flute into a Mayan tribal party, complete with contortionists, fire spinners, and stilt walkers. It was a "fun, fresh, and totally different gala experience," Thurmond says—not to mention a way to make audiences swoon. Touch's first outing, acousticaelectronica, was an instant sell-out at Oberon. Drawing from the picture of dorian gray, swan lake, carmen, and commedia dell'arte, the show is an abstract experience unfolding throughout the performance space, featuring pulsating lights, aerialists, and contempo- rary dance. The soundtrack is a mash-up of the world's greatest classical works and electronic dance music. The group's hypnotic staging of the moonlight sonata will have you thinking Beethoven came back from the dead to create the remix. "A lot of it was about disruption," Thurmond explains. "How do we build on the classical tradition and training we had and deconstruct and reconstruct in a brand-new way that still pays homage?" At Oberon, acousticaelectronica was an immersive experience, with patrons, drinks in hand, just a breath (or caress) away from the performers. "I hate the new york times headline that comes out every year that says classical music is dead," Thurmond says. "It's alive and thriving." And it's leaving audiences ravenous for more. BC A March production from Touch Performance Art, which aims to engage audiences through all their senses. Pan-or ama a Hollywood heavyweight helps bring theatrical life to the story of Peter Pan's creator. peter pan was much more than the spirited, fancy- free boy who refuses to grow up. in truth he was the literary alter ego of his creator, the audacious british writer J.m. barrie, who saw the world as children do—a place where mermaids, crocodiles, and fairies can conspire. "barrie is a complicated character who lives with a lot of creative imagination that has been waiting to be unleashed in the world," says diane paulus, artistic director of the american repertory theater. paulus helms the brand-new musical Finding Neverland, which is playing at the art through september 28. adapted from the 2004 flm of the same name, it traces barrie's path to peter pan through his friendship with widow sylvia llewelyn davies and her four sons, who would inspire the lost boys. paulus was hand-selected by hollywood producer harvey Weinstein to adapt the flm after she directed the tony award-winning production of Pippin. "he loves the theater and musical theater," she says. "he's so savvy about narrative. it's actually been extremely exciting to work with him." paulus landed actor Jeremy Jordan—who starred in Newsies: The Musical and Bonnie & Clyde on broadway, and in the series Smash on tV—to play barrie. a self-described introvert, Jordan says barrie's fxation on fantasy resonated with him. "i was very quiet and kept to myself," the actor recalls of his childhood in texas. "it wasn't until i began singing and stepping on stage that i felt relaxed and free." the musical breaks new ground by going deeper into barrie's mind and imagination. "it's this great blend of brit pop and musical theater and classical elements from the period," says Jordan. "We go to this weird psychedelic world every now and then as we get into his psyche." Which means that more than a century after peter pan's premiere, barrie is still expanding the bounds of theater. Through September 28 at the American Repertory Theater, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge, 617-547- 8300; americanrepertorytheater.org continued From page 59... 60 bostoncommon-magazine.com CULTUrE Hottest Ticket