Boom Bap Tourism

Makoto Hirano's Boom Bap Tourism

In the interest of full disclosure, I consider Makoto Hirano a good friend. That said, Boom Bap Tourism was a little piece of brilliance last night at the Painted Bride. An autobiographical journey of self reflection the carried it's way through with a consistent movement vocabulary, funny stories, artful staging, and a creative musical score. All of these elements combined into a compelling story of the man who Makoto sees himself as today. The use of lights and props was inventive and the music or silence stood guard as beat box, free style rhymes, and spoken word took us through the journey of his life. The duality of characters established at the beginning, framed the piece as a kind of "if I could talk to myself when I was that age, maybe I would have been different" story but without any of the usual regret or self pity that comes along with that type show. Maybe the only slip was in the performance was the full embodiment of young Makoto did not remain fully consistent past the opening sequence; however, his gift for story telling carried the spoken word through regardless.
The movement was inspiring. From fighting, to break dancing, to visions of Gene Kelly the dancing and choreography had a consistent beat and style that was characterized by swiftness of foot. Rarely did the movement feel under developed or over extended. The deftness with which Makoto went between break dancing, to modern, to delightful soft shoe shows a depth of dance talent that was as strong and the rhymes and stories they juxtaposed. The stories and imagery were hilarious (and not that bullshit, "look it's someone I know and their doing something I think is out of character "Philadelphia" funny"), genuinely clever and insightful stories that Makoto executed with charm and wit directly to the audience. I hope to see this show again, and look forward to more work from Makoto as his talent will no doubt continue to be showcased in Philadelphia and beyond.