Art After Dark returns to Houma
September 5, 2012
Chartering a Comeback
September 5, 2012
Andres Fernandez has moved to the rhythm since he was young.
At age 11, he was a background vocalist for his brother Johnny’s band, traveling the Hawaiian Islands in hopes of becoming the next big boy band, topping the 1980’s hit-makers, New Kids on the Block.
The Fernandez boys did eventually find their way onto bigger stages. Johnny would move stateside and land a part in the Vietnam opera “Miss Saigon.” And, at his big brother’s urging, Andres made the trip to the West Coast in 1997, tried out for several touring productions and got the call from the producers of “STOMP.”
“I tried out for several plays … ‘The Lion King,’ ‘Starlight Express,’ ‘Phantom of the Opera.’ ‘STOMP’ was the last one I auditioned for. I figured if it didn’t work out, I’d still get to see Disneyland and California,” Andres says.
Hours before his return flight was slated to take off, Andres found himself in a line that stretched around the block. Just two years earlier, the Luke Cresswell/Steve McNicholas percussive hit had caught the world by storm.
One-time street performers, Cresswell and McNicholas were self-taught percussionists, according to Fernandez. The pair created “STOMP” in an effort to bring their art to the stage. The show first opened in the United Kingdom in 1991, and began touring the United States in 1995.
By 1997, everyone had “STOMP” fever, including Andres Fernandez, who’d seen the touring production in Hawaii a year earlier. “My family had 10 tickets, but they weren’t together,” Andres says. “We were scattered all over the whole wide theater. Everyone walked away with a different perspective.”
But Johnny’s take was definitive: “He told me God had given me a [singing] voice, rhythm and the ability to dance,” Andres says. “He kept telling me not to do something with it was a waste. ‘You can do this; you can do this,’ he’d say. Finally, I decided he could be right and decided to give it a try.”
Arriving at “STOMP” tryouts, Andres was hit with a sobering sight.
“The line was so long, and when I finally got to the front, they asked me to return the next day,” he recalls. “I figured I’d run in, try out and if I didn’t make it, I’d just fly back home.”
Of the 130-plus people who tried out, Andres was one of the three chosen. And he’s been “STOMP”ing around the country ever since.
“I’m not the oldest, but I am one of the four veteran performers with the show,” the performer/rehearsal director says. His wife and son have since relocated to Las Vegas, where Andres enjoys summer breaks off the road.
The youngest performer in the touring production is 19, “one year older than my son,” Andres adds, laughing. “It’s funny. Sometimes I find myself thinking, ‘Oh wow, I’m old man.’”
The fall leg of the “STOMP” tour brings the production to New Orleans’ Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts Sept. 14-16. Fernandez said the show includes new surprises, with some sections of the show updated and restructured and two full-scale routines – complete with tractor tire inner tubes and paint cans – added.
“That’s the beauty of ‘STOMP’,” he says. “No one ever sees the same show twice. It’s about 75 percent written and about 25 percent improv. The slightest change can create a totally different show.”
“STOMP has evolved a great deal ever since its first incarnation at the Edinburgh Festival,” said co-creator McNicholas in a release. What hasn’t changed, however, is the performers’ ability to “make a rhythm out of anything we can get our hands on that makes a sound.”
Suddenly, stiff-bristle brooms become a sweeping orchestra; Zippo lighters flip open and closed to create a fiery fugue and wooden poles thump and clack in a rhythmic explosion. Trashcans, tea chests, plastic bags, plungers, boots and hubcaps all take on a life of their own, pounding out infectious rhythms.
“A few of the numbers have changed and some of the music has changed as well, but ‘STOMP’ is still the fierce, comic show audiences have come to expect,” Andres says.
A family affair, “STOMP” unites on both sides of the stage.
The cast of 12 travels the U.S. by bus, performing short stays and moving on. “Over time, we have just become family,” Andres says.
As for audiences, the performer says “STOMP” derives its staying power from crowds. “We feed off each other and the audience,” Andres explains. “When [audiences] are having fun, it’s fun from the get-go. It motivates us to put on a fun, memorable show.
“I’m excited to tell people to come see this show,” he says. “It’s a lot of fun and a lot of new things have been added. It’s fun-filled family entertainment, ideal for audiences from ages 3 to 93.”
“STOMP” runs from Sept. 14-16 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts, 1419 Basin St., New Orleans. Tickets range from $30 to $75. For more information, visit www.mahaliajacksontheater.com.
Performer and rehearsal director Andres Fernandez says audiences can expect a fresh, updated “STOMP” this month at the Mahalia Jackson Theater.
