Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk premiered off-Broadway at the Public Theater's Newman Theatre on November 3, 1995, and closed on January 28, 1996, after 85 performances. Directed by George C. Wolfe with costumes by Karen Perry, set design by Ricardo Hernandez, lighting by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, and Production Managed by Bonnie Metzgar. The cast included Savion Glover, Duquesnay, Gaines, and Dulé Hill.
The musical moved to the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway, opening there on April 25, 1996. The show closed after 1135 performances on January 10, 1999. The opening night cast included Jeffrey Wright, Glover, Duquesnay and Hill. Again directed by Wolfe, with sets and lighting by the off-Broadway team, costume design was by Paul Tazewell. Glover left the show but returned for 40 performances from December 8, 1998, through January 10, 1999.[1]
The Original Broadway Cast recording was issued by RCA Victor (09026-68565-2).[3]
Concept
Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk is a musical revue telling the story, through tap, of black history from slavery to the present. The musical numbers are presented along with supertitles, projected images and videotapes and with continuing commentary.
Wolfe took the rap words of Reg E. Gaines and turned them into "tap/rap (tap dancing informed by hip-hop and funk rhythms)."[4]
In his interview for The New York Times, Ben Brantley wrote: "Mr. Glover has found choreographic equivalents for the black experience in the days of plantations, urban industrialization, the Harlem Renaissance and latter-day race riots...This sense of flaming individuality is finally what the evening is about: not just the collective history of a race but the diverse and specific forms of expression that one tradition embraces."[6]
The review in Entertainment Weekly said that the show is "an explosive and bravely literal-minded chronicle of the genre's history from slavery to the present. The music is beautiful and the dancing exuberant, but Funk is serious business, with vicious, funny send-ups of Uncle Tomism in Hollywood."[7]
Writing for The New York Times, Margo Jefferson stated that: "as dance, as musical, as theater, as art, as history and entertainment, there's nothing Noise/Funk cannot and should not do."[4]
The musical made an "extraordinary political statement ... as well as the equally significant growth in dance this show launched."[2]
