Fri, 31 May 2002

—The following is an excerpt from "The Tulsa Herald" Arts Section dated May 20, 2002.

"STINK!" A GENUINE CROWD PLEASER

Review by Mark Knackersnoodle

If you had told me a month ago that I would be writing a rave review for a touring Broadway company of a musical called "STINK!" I would have said you were crazy. Yet here I am singing the praises of an incredible new theater experience.

Tulsa audiences over the past year have been treated to the spectacle of road show productions of "STOMP!" and "BLAST!" but nothing prepared me for the incredible impact of "STINK!"

Like the other shows, "STINK!" is a frenetic revue filled with music, dancing, and percussion, but it adds a whole new dimension: smell. The young, enthusiastic cast presents a fun-filled series of production numbers and vignettes based on the incredible variety of odors in the everyday world. There is not much plot or characterization to speak of and there is not a word of dialogue except for the title. However, the fun-loving cast speaks volumes with their youthful exuberance and talent.

The show begins as the cast comes charging out onto the stage frantically beating on garbage cans and chanting "STINK! STINK! STINK!" The thirty young dancers and musicians, many of whom look young enough to still be in high school, make quite a racket dressed in filthy overalls and pounding out a tribal rhythm. They cluster around a dumpster, and out of it leap four trombonists who play the signature tune, "Fanfare for the Common Smell." The dancers then form into three groups and drag huge garbage cans onto the stage. As the first group upended their can onto center stage, the opening night audience gasped as a huge pile of grounds slopped onto the stage, and the hall was filled with the pungent odor of coffee. A bank of massive turbo fans fired up and spread the distinctive smell throughout the theater. The second group opened their can and thirty pounds of French fries tumbled out. The air was filled with the delightful smell of fried food as the dancers donned cowboy hats and two-stepped around the greasy spuds. The last grouped rolled out their can, and when they opened it, plumes of sooty black smoke poured out filling the hall with the smell of burning tires. The band broke into a funky, foot stomping version of the old hit "Burn Rubber" and soon the whole audience was on its feet dancing and clapping along.

Other numbers such as "Diaper Pail Hijinxs" and "It Happened at the Cheese Store" were well-received, but the crowd favorite this night was "What’s Cooking in the Kitchen?" The number introduced the youngest member of the cast, a dynamic six year old bundle of energy listed in the program only as "Kaffi." Dressed as a mouse, the little fellow won the crowd’s heart as he danced and leapt about countertops as a crew of burly bakers tried to chase him away from the warm yeasty-smelling loaves of bread they were baking. The crowd roared as, at its conclusion, air cannons shot loaves of bread all over the auditorium.

To reveal anything about the fantastic and smelly climax of the show would be spoiling the fun of future audiences. Suffice it to say that if you have tickets in the first ten rows, be sure to wear old or water-resistant clothing and bring plenty of diaper wipes for afterwards.

A year or two ago I heard one so-called critic refer to shows like "STINK!" as "theater for nitwits." Well, if that’s the case count me and the nine hundred others at the Leif Festerbanalapersson Theater for the Performing Arts as happy nitwits.

—Excerpt from "The Tulsa Herald" May 23, 2002.

"STINK!" CAST BUSTED IN IMMIGRATION INVESTIGATION

A routine traffic stop turned into a shocking international incident Monday morning in Ootoolah just west of Tulsa. State troopers pulled over an eighteen wheeler tractor trailer with a broken tail light early Monday morning on Highway 53 and were stunned by what they found. When the driver’s lack of a proper license and inability to speak English aroused the troopers’ suspicions, the trailer was searched.

The troopers were shocked to find the locked, unventilated trailer contained over thirty young men and women dressed in filthy overalls. Though the majority could not speak English, a few of the young people were eventually able to explain their plight. They were the embattled cast of a road show musical production called "STINK!" The entire cast is from the small Slavic Republic of Latvonia. They tell a harrowing story of being virtually held captive and being forced to perform night after night without pay and with minimal food and clothing. Originally they were lured over the United States from their war-torn country with promises of starring in a famous Broadway show two years ago. Now homeless and penniless, they have no visas and have been at the mercy of an unscrupulous promoter known only as "Mister X."

Fifteen year old dancer Klatvina explains, "Eeen mine country, I am beeeg time ballerina. Zey tell me -- Meester X does -- to come to Amereeca to be in zeee ‘Cats.’ Instead, veee are forced to dance and zing in zeees crappy show ‘Steeenk!’ ‘I just want to go back to Latvonia."

State troopers were shocked when they searched a pile of greasy rags in the back of the trailer and found a frightened six year old boy. Calling himself only "Kaffi," he wept as he danced for the troopers and begged for his freedom. Within hours, state social workers and federal immigration officials had taken the cast into protective custody while a three-state search for "Mister X was initiated.

In the meantime, federal investigators fear a more widespread problem and have launched investigations into several other third tier traveling performance art shows including "Tango Kidz," "The Yellow Man Group," and the controversial "Tap Slaves."

In a related story, tonight’s performance of the touring production of "Cirque du Haiti" has been postponed until further notice.