Here’s what other people around town are saying about Break a Heart:

“It’s a crush not a torrid affair.” – Publicola

“Break a Heart” bills itself as “a loungy, alcohol-soaked cabaret on the theme of love.” What it is is a very mixed bag of Seattle silliness without a lounge singer or martini glass in sight…” – Seattle Times

“All types of love are displayed in Break a Heart: romantic, platonic, heterosexual, homosexual, passionate, unrequited, taboo, innocent, and bunny rabbit.” – Teen Tix

…can be found at projecture.org. Pick up the password in the OtB lobby this weekend!

Did you see Break a Heart? Do you have a favorite moment? A favorite song? And how about those Fruit of the Loom-style costumes?

Love it or hate it, let us know in the comments!

I have to be honest with you. I dreaded going to see Break a Heart. The last thing I need is to be reminded that it’s VALENTINE’S DAY. I think I’ve had one good Vday, which was book-ended by two terrible ones, the worst of which was last year. (Yeah, he is a total asshole and I still haven’t forgiven him.) So my faith in love and capacity for forgiveness is scant at best, and I unfortunately/fortunately have my skeptical goggles on and am probably the last person to be told to “lighten up!” Last year on this weekend, Otb showed the awesomely grotesque tEEth from Portland, which amused me because it had nothing to do with Valentine’s Day but there we all were, watching a really frightening show replete with grunting, foaming at the mouth, etc. on, supposedly, the most romantic day of the year. This year, the dance offerings are not as scary, and are all variations on the theme of “love”, or whatever the hell “love” means.

Some of the pieces are seemingly romantic without being syrupy but sort of sweet enough to feel kind of artificial, kind of shallow, kind of weak, and pardon the pun, without a heart. And I saw a fair amount of cleverness and whimsy, which gets old fast. It’s nice at first, but after awhile, it starts to feel a little soul-less. The more successful pieces for me were more honest and direct. There are some real standouts in Break a Heart. Enchanted Prince, choreographed and performed by the fantastic Wade Madsen is a visual stunner. He plays a clown, that is everything we kind of love about clowns in general – funny, sweet, and kind of pathetic. Face it, we like clowns because we can laugh at them instead of recognizing the flaws within ourselves. Also nicely done was give it I got it by MouseBones (ilvs strauss and Jody Kuehner.) There’s just something really genuine about these two, they’re not necessarily playing for laughs (i don’t know, maybe they are?) but I think they are actually funny people who downplay the comedy to show the awkward side of love or whatever, of miscommunication, of self-deprecation, of fear, of many things, and kind of just being ok with that discomfort. Which I appreciated. I also enjoyed Diana Cardiff’s pieces, one serious and one comedic, both very well done. PS. Intermission was a great time to visit the bar.

It’s kind of a crapshoot to have a bunch of people get together and make some work on a common theme, on top of that, the cruelest theme of all, love. There are winners, and there are losers. (Much like life, GET IT???) and yeah, there are a lot of those “GET IT???” moments everywhere that were too easy, too fluffy, too literal (ie. Isn’t Love Fun? Isn’t Love Heavy? Look, Gay Dudes Fall In Love, Too!) and I’m supposed to be like, “Yeah I GET IT. Love sucks but it really isn’t so bad because people are inherently good and we should have no regrets because we’re all in it together.” Which is a lie. Not everything is like a Meg Ryan movie. But it seems like everyone spends Valentine’s Day trying to get people to believe it is, that we all should just lighten up. But I don’t think it’s that simple.

Are you like Meg Ryan?

-Mike P

Love is extraordinarily complex and frequently commented upon. Valentine’s Day is a garish Christmas sweater with a far more repellent color palette disguising itself as a celebration of love. The “Break a Heart” dance showcase at On the Boards seemed to toy with either love or the holiday, depending on the piece, and overall the performances felt like light musings rather than deep explorations. Which is fine by me – it’s February, dark, rainy… bring on the people in the giant heart costumes and knee socks. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen a dance showcase and thought to myself “Oh, I loved all of that, everything was marvelous!” Juxtaposition naturally leads to comparison, and so the first half of the program struck me as a sandwich with crumbly bread and a warm, juicy interior. The second half was made of wacky bread with a filling of earnestness. I could be influenced by my soft spot for pantomime clowns (Harpo Marx-like clowns, not evil clowns), but I found Wade Madsen’s “Enchanted Prince” to be the most compelling work with its use of vulnerable humor building towards powerfully exposing gestures.

- Kate Ratcliffe

Looks like my box of Valentines chocolates was delivered to On the Boards this year.  Last evening‘s exciting opening night performance of “Break a Heart” had all of the variety and surprises of that holiday heart shaped standby.

I got the impression right off the bat that this was not the usual high brow OtB fare.  The lobby was filled with volunteers, patrons and OtB staff all decked out in reds and pinks and golds.  The lobby was jam packed with balloons, decorations and cheesy and genuine smiles that no one seemed to be able to wipe off their faces.  There were even Seattle performance luminaries behind a second festive bar providing complimentary Valentine themed cocktails and rightly stoking the crowd’s expectation for a fun, frivolous and flirty evening.  Scanning the room I did not see anyone able to retain their workday grump with so much fun seduction in the air.

The performance itself was varied, bombastic and hilarious.  I knew I was in for a treat as I was knocked out of my seat giggling during the first segment.  A good part of the show is are based on shock and awe so I won’t be able to be as specific as I would be otherwise but Laduree colored costumes, joyful grins and a sung, yes sung, rendition of a classic Violent Femmes song had me breathless by the end of the first 11 minutes.  It was much more than I expected and set the tone for the rest of the night.

Now, with all of this wonderfully festive poppycock, I don’t want you to think that it is all cheese and romance.  In fact, there is very little I would actually call “romance” themed.  Slapstick, seduction, gender play and physical comedy, yes, but of the eight segments only two slow down enough to give rise to that quiet contemplation that can be called romantic.  Luckily, those pieces are also filled with interesting albeit uneven choreography that acts as an easygoing palette cleanser before the romp continues.  To be fair, the slower moving, more “serious” dance pieces don’t stand a chance in this bawdy environment.  In a normal evening length piece, the mood is set by the choreographer over the course of the night to draw us in and set a tone.  Jamming otherwise engaging choreographers in between shiny strumpets and wildly theatrical and hysterical clowns sets up the “serious” dance to be glossed over.

My personal favorite pieces of the evening were the two harkening back to the days of absurdist theatre.  Jody Keuhner and ilvs strauss (as MouseBones) threw away the rulebook and tore up the stage with physical comedy, brave performing and groundbreaking tempo.  All I can say is that it was equal parts trippy, intelligent and Dadaist.  The other favorite was Wade Madsen as the only clown performance I have ever cared for in my life.  When he mounted the stage my heart sank because clowns and mimes are usually abject failure but it took all of 90 seconds for me to be drawn in to the bit, become impressed with his original use of props and then just admire his total bravery to pull that off.

To wrap up this unwrapped box of candy all I can say it this show is not what you expect.  Come for a casual romp.  Have a cocktail before the show if you like that.  Wear a festive color.  And most of all, relax into some easy to digest variety show styled sketches by performers you know and love and are just having a great time.

-Shango Los

Here’s some of what you can expect to see in the OtB lobby tonight though Sunday:

Earlier this week 2 patient crew members put together a balloon wall that fills the entire back of the mainstage for this weekend’s Break a Heart. Quick trivia – it took 2 full days and 800 balloons to make this happen.

[OtB's Communication Intern, Monique, stands in front of the wall]

Fresh off the presses! Our very own Regional Programs Coordinator Sean Ryan talks with choreographers Wade Madsen and Kristina Dillard about commercialism, clowns, balloons and broken hearts.

Listen [mp3]

More about the Break a Heart show here.

…Luna Bianca!

See all the Valentine stories at the original post. Many thanks to all who entered and random.org for helping us draw a winner.