Dude. We totally went to see Theater of the Two Headed Calf‘s new show Drums of the Waves of Horikawa at HERE last night and it was awesome!

All the actors are top-notch and give great, intense, high-energy performances.  Brendan Connelly’s music, as always, rocks like crazy. And Brooke O’Harra has done a fantastic job with the staging. Lights, sound, set – the whole production is an engaging,  dynamic and satisfying theatrical spectacle.

They had a little party after the show the other night and I got to talk to Brooke about it. I was fascinated to learn that most of the characters’ movement vocabularies were based on specific punk rockers like Iggy Pop or Fugazi and that some of the dialogue interpolated lines from Preston Sturges movies. They’ve been building the show for two years and it shows. There are so many layers to this work – it is complex and intricate.  But you don’t have to get all the references, you don’t even have to know that much about the kabuki tradition that it plays with (ever so loosely) to enjoy the show.

With two brief pauses and two 8 minute intermissions you might think it was a long evening – but it is so much fun that the time flies by. Plus there is a live DJ spinning vinyl before the show and during the intermissions, and there is a bar in the theater with beer and sake. good times!

It is only running for one more weekend so go see it while you can!