"So what did you think about Stomp?" I asked my 5-year-old son, Ian, after Friday night's Riverside Theater performance. This was his very first "grown up" theatrical performance -- come to think of it -- it may have been his first performing arts event.

Ian is what you could call a "spirited" kid. My wife and I figured that people running around on stage beating on garbage cans would hold his attention a lot longer than "Elmo on Ice." Not only that, he seems to have a penchant for percussion as he already has his own drum set. So, I told him beforehand that we had to write a review ("what's that?") together for OnMilwaukee.com. Mini-cassette recorder at the ready, he gave his reply:

"Hello, I am Ian and I liked everything."

"Well, what part did you like the most?"

"All of it."

I guess I was expecting an answer like that. Fact is, there were a few times he asked when it was going to be over -- maybe because it was two hours past his bedtime.

Or maybe those comments came during the acts that were a bit quieter and not as attention grabbing for kids. Older kids would have picked up on the subtle rhythmic dialog during these points, but for the surprising amount of kids (many under 12) at the show, it was the loud, rocking numbers that brought the smiles.

For my son, it was all about the people walking around with 55-gallon drums strapped to their boots, playing drums with garbage cans and other found objects and performing samurai-like duels while playing rhythms with sticks. Those were the two thumbs up (literally) moments for him. The audience participation sketch at the beginning held his attention much better than the one at the end because, well, tomorrow wasn't a school day and he was up way past his bedtime.

"I wish there was a theater without chairs where I could stand and run around and wouldn't get lost and not have to sit in a chair." Ian said on the way home.

Perhaps Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas, who created Stomp in the summer of 1991, could come up with a children's "Stomp." Just think if it, an interactive children's performance that wouldn't be sponsored by Disney, or Thomas the Tank Engine, or Barney. And it would all happen in a theater without chairs. There's a free marketing idea from a 5 year old who more than found his rhythm in Downtown Milwaukee Friday night. "Hey, windshield wipers make a beat," he observed as we drove home in the sleet and he fell asleep, probably dreaming about drums, the arts and "Stomp."

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