About to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its New York premiere, “Stomp” has endured, not thanks to high-priced sets and effects, but from wielding everyday objects like brooms, garbage cans and wooden poles to create a wordless percussive explosion onstage. And let’s not forget the 150 or so performers who have smacked their way in and out of its cast. (On March 3, some alumni will join the current cast in the two performances, followed by a private party.)
“Stomp” is the brainchild of Luke Cresswell, 55, and Steve McNicholas, 63, who still maintain creative control. (Blue Man Group, another downtown mainstay, was sold to Cirque du Soleil in 2017.) And while they have expressed interest in branching out — in 1997, McNicholas told The New York Times, “We’re kind of trapped, because we don’t feel we can walk away from it” — “Stomp” has come to define their lives.
They started working together in the early 1980s, creating a one-off in their hometown Brighton, England, called “Romance Is Not Dead” that they performed on the day of the royal wedding of Charles and Diana as counterprogramming.
Later, they busked on the streets outside the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in a band called Pookiesnackenburger. Cresswell described their early music in an interview as “very eclectic, punky, thrashy, scratchy,” and with “lots of running around.”
The band eventually split up, but Cresswell and McNicholas formed a new troupe: an ensemble of eight performers that made its debut as “Stomp” at the festival in 1991.
Cresswell had been the band’s percussionist; since he could only carry a few small drums, he began improvising on the street, which meant he would use surrounding objects as well. “We quickly learned how much the audience enjoyed that kind of experimentation,” McNicholas said.
After three years of international touring, Cresswell and McNicholas brought the act to New York where it has never left the Orpheum Theater in the East Village. Along the way, “Stomp” launched several touring companies, appeared on late night television, filmed an HBO special and collaborated with A-listers.
There have been bumps. In 2010, a national tour of “Pandemonium: The Lost and Found Orchestra,” another sound-centered show from Cresswell and McNicholas, was canceled after less than three weeks of performances.
But “Stomp” itself has become part of pop culture and an unqualified success, which hasn’t fazed the founding duo. “We’re British and we live in England so we’re quite reserved,” said McNicholas. “We’re quite used to people telling us that we’re nothing special.”
As the show celebrates a quarter century in New York, where a spokeswoman said it has grossed about $100 million, here are 10 things you might not know about “Stomp.”
1. The founders used to open for Madness.
In the early 1980s, Pookiesnackenburger was a supporting act for Madness at the Dominion Theater in London. Yes, that Madness, as in the guys who earwormed “Our house in the middle of the street” into an entire generation of unsuspecting British teenagers.
“They once described us as their favorite group,” McNicholas said.
The connection has lasted. Cresswell and McNicholas helped orchestrate a theatrical launch show for Madness’ 2009 album, “The Liberty of Norton Folgate.”
2. Sometimes things go overboard. Literally.
“Stomp” props might seem widely available. But Cresswell said that everyday objects, depending on where they’re made, make different sounds. He and McNicholas have the props shipped from Britain by boat.
On one voyage in the late 1990s, a freak wave hit a boat carrying “Stomp” trash cans. The cargo box carrying the cans sank to the bottom of the North Sea.
3. Still, you better have storage space.
“Stomp” has used a total of 13,000 poles, 5,200 boxes of tissues, and 52,000 candles during its New York run.
And for when the drummers have suffered injuries: 7,800 Ace bandages.
4. The show was responsible for Jar Jar Binks (Sort of).
In the late 1990s, George Lucas was looking to cast “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” the highly anticipated prequel to the franchise. He had seen “Stomp” on the West Coast.
“They were looking for someone really musical and with rhythm,” Cresswell recalled.
Lucas and the casting director, Robin Gurland, invited several “Stomp” cast members to audition. Ahmed Best got the job — as Jar Jar Binks, who ended up being one of the most reviled characters in “Star Wars” history.
5. The Times name-checked John Cage.
In the original 1994 review, critic Stephen Holden wrote: “One person who would probably have given ‘Stomp’ his stamp of approval is John Cage. Not only does the show demonstrate with an entrancing charm the music to be found in everyday objects, it does so at a relatively modest volume.”
Cage, who died two years before “Stomp” debuted in New York, was the influential avant-garde composer who thrived on defying convention, and urged other artists to do the same.
6. Paul Simon played along.
The “Stomp” creators have had plenty of celebrity collaborators, from Bette Midler (the roots of the show are clear in a pre-"Stomp” segment from her “Mondo Beyondo Show”) to vaudevillian Bill Irwin (on “The Late Show With David Letterman” in 1997).
The founders’ favorite appearance, they said, was with Paul Simon and Jimmy Fallon, performing the Simon and Garfunkel hit “Cecilia” on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” in 2011.
7. One performer has been in the show for almost half his life.
Carlos Thomas, 42, is one of the longest running cast members, having made his debut 20 years ago.
He was more prepared for his audition than most prospective performers, having grown up with a single mother who couldn’t afford to buy him instruments.
“To practice rhythm, I would make drums out of pots and pans,” Thomas said. “In high school, I would be the guy who would take the desk, chair and chalk on the chalkboard and go ‘Chooka-chooka-chooka.’ I’d make music out of everything in the classroom.”
8. It can really be a family business.
In 2015, Daniela and Tom Isenschmid bought out an entire “Stomp” show in London so they could make the performance the main attraction at their wedding reception.
9. It can also be a tough business.
“Stomp” auditions occur once every two or three years. They are essentially open calls.
One time, a dancer brought her boyfriend to an audition in London. The boyfriend watched the workshop through a window.
“We said, ‘Come in, come in.’ And he came in, and he was great,” Cresswell said.
His girlfriend didn’t make the ensemble. Paul Bend did, and has been a “Stomp” cast member since 2001. The couple is no longer together.
10. The founders know how to celebrate.
In 1999, Cresswell and McNicholas were planning to mark the millennium scuba diving off the Micronesian island Yap, until they received a call from the office of Hillary Clinton, who was first lady at the time. Clinton requested that they perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on New Year’s Eve. (Quincy Jones, a longtime supporter of the partners, helped make the connection.)
“Stomp” dutifully did the show and skipped the scuba diving.
“Then we partied at the White House till 4 in the morning,” Cresswell said. “It was fantastic.”
“It was the best party I’ve ever been to,” McNicholas added.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.