The David Bowie Inspired Performance Returns To Chicago For Stint At Chopin Theatre

Feb 23, 2023 admin_bitlc Features, Music News, Musical Theatre, Reviews 0

---

Floor Show keeps swinging. The David Bowie-inspired phenomenon finally returns – Kerry Reid, Chicago Reader 2/22/23

“Alex Grelle and Jesse Morgan Young’s Floor Show premiered in a brief electric run in February 2020 at the Chopin. The plan was to bring it back later that spring. But then . . . you know.

Blessedly, this compelling exploration/channeling of the chameleonic (and always self-aware) spirit of David Bowie-to call it a “tribute show” is far too reductive-has finally found its way back to the Chopin basement. The space has been transformed by set designer John Holt and lighting designer Benjamin Carne into a fashion-show runway somewhat reminiscent of Bowie’s video for “Boys Keep Swinging,” with a window at one end through which we can see performers at a makeup table preparing for their next incarnation. Archival video projections designed by Sid Branca, along with live-action feeds during the show, add further layers of nuance to the themes of transformation and self-representation.

Grelle (aka “Grelley”) anchors the two-act, 16-song quicksilver extravaganza, but just as Bowie was a singular star who was smart and generous about his collaborators, so too does Grelle know how to cede the spotlight to his costars. These include Andrew Sa, who partners with Grelle in a delightful plot-twist shift into Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli performing a Bowie medley; the kinetic and magnetic “Diamond Dogs” (Sarah Ellen Miller and Robin Lee), who provide everything from dance support, costume changes (designed by Kate Setzer Kamphausen), and mirror images/counterpoints to the action; and Adrian Hadlock (who also designed the makeup) and Aileen May in a variety of brief but compelling roles. (The latter appears as Angela Bowie at one point.)

Costumes, wigs (designed by Keith Ryan), and props (Mary Williamson) get pulled from trap doors in the stage (including a skull, reminiscent of John Merrick, the “Elephant Man,” played by Bowie in the play of the same title at the old Blackstone in Chicago). The band, led by Liam Kazar of Marrow with singers Bran Moorhead and Teressa LaGamba, moves with lightning skill through all the moods of the songs, while the choreography by Zachary Whittenburg and Erin Kilmurray physicalizes and exteriorizes what it feels like to be constantly in search of the next transformative (if not revelatory) moment. It’s truly exhilarating”

From the Creators – Alex Grelle (The Grelley Duvall Show / Ordinary Peepholes) and Jesse Morgan Young (BAATHHAUS / REVIVAL) have created a show inspired by Bowie’s drive to reinvent himself over and over again and bring the house down while doing it. Part rock show, part homage and part performance spectacle, Floor Show brings to life the music of David Bowie.

Featuring some of Chicago’s favorite performers and musicians with a band led by Liam Kazar (Marrow / Kids These Days), this is a show created by Bowie fans for Bowie fans, newcomers and everyone in between.

 

---

---

---