Busta Keaton: ChicagoNow.com
Chicago Dance Crash again teamed up with Culture Shock Chicago to open The Trials of Busta Keaton last week at a new venue, the Hoover-Leppen Theatre on Halsted (good move Crash!). The show examined the rise and fall of Buster Keaton, the famed silent film era star, who saw his fame slip away as color and sound took over the film industry and pushed him to the emotional edge.
I can’t quite put my finger on this show. It was smart, no doubt, and now that I’ve let it marinate over a good night’s sleep I might even call it brilliant. But how it made me feel is a different story. Did I laugh? Yes. Did I cry? Yes. Was I scared? Yes. Was it disturbing? Yes. At times Busta was so creepy and intense that I wanted to go home and watch Black Swan to make me feel better.
Buster himself–played by Artistic Director Mark Hackman (scheduled performer and director/choreographer Christopher Courtney could not be there due to an emergency)–was the melancholy centerpiece of the show. Incessantly trying to recapture his past, represented by the entire cast painted gray or “monotint” to appear in black and white. I have to say I wasn’t expecting much when I heard about the monotint feature, but it really, really worked. And it definitely added to the creepy factor.
I like to think of Crash as an audience-pleaser because even if you can’t quite follow the conceptual complexities of their shows, the dancing takes over and you don’t really need to follow. With that said, you can count on Crash to bring everyone full circle with cheeky stints like a sign that says “Busta Who” when the film industry left him behind and girls dressed in sparkly multicolored tanks to depict color pictures.
Busta is a culmination of fear, regret, sadness, and far away moments, captured by movement and enhanced by incredible conceptual development made possible by a seemingly stellar crew of talented minds. I bet Crash wishes they could have this moment 4 life.