Superhero on Tap

Let me state, right now, I am not a particularly big fan of dance. It's okay on occassion, I suppose, but there's about thirty things I can list off the top of my head that I'd rather spend the time on than attending a dance performance.

There's always an exception, and that exception is The Hourglass and the Poisoned Pen.

It's a superhero comic book done in tap.

I know, weird.

It's a big improvement over last year's show (yes, I dragged Maggie to that one), with a better set (a giant comic book whose pages are turned to form the backgrounds, and with projected captions!), better villains, better fight sequences (they've gone from tap dancing at each other to a mildly-inventive way of actually fighting while tap dancing) and even better costumes (for the sidekick, at least - I think the Hourglass' outfit was the same last year).

Before the show, we were warned that if we had seen last year's show, to forget it. You got it - it's a Hulk-style reboot! :)

So we got a different origin for our heroine (much quicker, allowed the story to move to the action faster), the sidekick had a costume right off, and the story went pretty much like a superhero comic book. You know, sidekick is knocked out, used as bait for hero - the usual.

What made it so enjoyable was the villainous Poisoned Pen, who's actor was terrific - both in secret and villain ID. The Conductor was kept from the previous show, and instead of just doing a little dance and raising an eyebrow got to beat the tar out of the heroines this time around. And the heroine herself, the Hourglass, acted far more like a comic book heroine (kind of in an Adam West vein) than the reluctant wimp she was in the first episode.

The play is actually going to a NY festival in September, given a chance to perform off-Broadway, which is darn good for a show that plays in an old 70-person theater.

So if you get the chance to ever catch the show, I'd recommend it. It's fun, fast-paced, and interesting to a comic book guy.