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Blast! (musical)

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Blast! is a Broadway production created by James Mason for Cook Group Incorporated, the director and organization formerly operating the Star of Indiana Drum and Bugle Corps. It was the 2001 winner of the Tony Award for "Best Special Theatrical Event",[1] and simultaneously received a Tony Award nomination[2] for and won the 2001 Emmy Award for "Best Choreography".[3]

Blast!'s instrumentation is exclusively brass and percussion, a nod to the show's roots in the drum and bugle corps activity. Blast!'s performers use trumpets, flugelhorns, mellophones, baritone horns, tubas, and a full complement of percussion instruments including snare drums, tenor drums, bass drums, xylophones, vibraphones, marimbas, timpani, and other standard percussion equipment. In addition, Blast! adds instruments not normally found in drum corps, such as French horns, concert euphoniums, trombones (including one on a unicycle during "Gee, Officer Krupke!") and bass trombones, didgeridoos and synthesizers.[4][5] Blast! II Shockwave was written to include woodwind instruments, such as flute and saxophone.[6] Accompanying the wind and percussion is the Visual Ensemble (or VE), a group of dancers who manipulate a variety of props, similar to a color guard.

Most of Blast!'s duration is instrumentals, throwing people and flags, and a trombonist on a unicycle.

History

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The Star of Indiana Drum and Bugle Corps, founded in 1984, competed in the Drum Corps International circuit from 1985 to 1993.[7] It won the 1991 World Championship. After a showing in the 1993 season, the program left the DCI circuit to tour with the Canadian Brass, in a new program dubbed Brass Theater. On December 14, 1999, Blast! premiered at the Hammersmith Apollo in Hammersmith. A PBS special of the London production aired on August 5, 2000.[8] Blast! debuted in the United States on August 23, 2000, at the Wang Center in Boston, Massachusetts. On April 17, 2001, Blast! opened on Broadway at The Broadway Theatre, and later that year commenced its first national tour starting September 7 in St. Louis, Missouri.[9]

Following the success of the original production, Blast! II Shockwave was developed and toured the United States in 2002–2003. This production added woodwind instruments. Shockwave has not been released on CD or DVD. The creators of Blast! also developed Cyberjam, which premiered in London at the Queen's Theatre in 2003.[10][11][12] An additional sequel, MIX:Music in Xtreme, debuted in Japan in 2006 and toured Japan again in 2008.[13] In 2016 Blast! developed and premiered Blast! The Music of Disney in Japan.[13] Blast! The Music of Disney returned to Japan for additional tours in 2017 and 2019.[13][14]

A shortened version of the show, called "The Power of BLAST!", played at the America Gardens Theatre at Epcot in Orlando, Florida for the summer of 2001, before moving to the Hyperion Theater in Disney California Adventure in Anaheim, California from November 22, 2001 until September 2, 2002.[15]

According to the show's website, the original show has not toured since September 2020.[16]

Musical numbers

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Blast!

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Act One

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Overture of color

Violet

Blue

Green

Black

Act Two

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Color Wheel

  • "Color Wheel Too" – (Jonathan Vanderkolff)

Yellow

Orange

Red

Recent editions of Blast! have omitted "Simple Gifts" and "Gee, Officer Krupke!", and moved "Tangerinamadidge" immediately before "Lemontechno".

Blast! II Shockwave

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Act One

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Act Two

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MIX: Music in Xtreme

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Act One

Act Two

  • "o2" - (Jonathan Vanderkolff)
  • "Didgeritoo" - (James Mason, Jefferson Lee, Jonathan Vanderkolff)
  • "Star Children" - (Don Ellis)
  • "Uninvited" - (Alanis Morissette)
  • "Turkish Re-Mix" - (Jonathan Vanderkolff, Jefferson Lee)
  • "Turkish Bath" - (Don Ellis)
  • "Open Wide" - (Don Ellis)
  • "Lullaby for Nancy Carol" - (Chuck Mangione)
  • "Encore" - (Jefferson Lee)

The Power of BLAST!

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Epcot version

Disney California Adventure version

BLAST! The Music of Disney

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[19][20]

Act I

Act II

Musical numbers listed in the souvenir program for early productions of Blast! The Music of Disney included "Night on Bald Mountain", "Let It Go", and "How Far I'll Go".[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "2001 Tony (Antoinette Perry) Awards". Infoplease. Retrieved December 20, 2005.
  2. ^ "Blast! Tony Awards Info". www.broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  3. ^ "Emmy Awards: 2001". The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved December 20, 2005.
  4. ^ "Brass Instruments & Model Numbers". blasttheshow.com. Retrieved December 20, 2005.
  5. ^ "Percussion Instruments & Model Numbers". blasttheshow.com. Retrieved December 20, 2005.
  6. ^ Company, Tampa Publishing. "Back with a blast: "Shockwave'". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2021-04-26. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  7. ^ "Song History for Star of Indiana". Corpreps.com. Retrieved December 20, 2005.
  8. ^ Bob, Hammel (Sep 26, 2008). The Bill Cook Story: Ready, Fire, Aim!. Indiana University Press. p. 348. ISBN 978-0253352545.
  9. ^ "Blast Timeline". blasttheshow.com. Retrieved December 20, 2005.
  10. ^ James, Mason. "Mason Entertainment Group: Company Info".
  11. ^ "Broadway.com:Cyberjam". Broadway.com.
  12. ^ Walters, John (Oct 24, 2003). "The Join Was Jumping". The Guardian.
  13. ^ a b c James, Mason. "Blast the Show: History".
  14. ^ "Blast Japan Tour". Blast Japan Tour. Dec 1, 2019.
  15. ^ "The Power of Blast at Yesterland". yesterland.com.
  16. ^ "Blast! Japan Tour 2019". www.blasttheshow.com/. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  17. ^ http://www.blasttheshow.com/tour/vertical_rep.html [bare URL]
  18. ^ "Yesterland: The Power of Blast!".
  19. ^ "Blast Japan Tour: About". Blast Japan Tour. Dec 1, 2019.
  20. ^ Souvenir Program. Tokyo, Japan: Kyodo Tokyo Inc. 2019. pp. 5, 6.
  21. ^ Blast! The Music of Disney 2017 Souvenir Program. Tokyo, Japan: Kyodo Tokyo Inc. 2017. pp. 5–6.
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