MB Civic

in shameless promotion mode, here’s Denver Nicks at Huff Post ..

a day in the dystopian vision of Debbie Andrews and Mike Blaxill, writers of the new rag-tag, upstart, rock-and-roll musical Barcode .. Barcode follows the adventures of a group of digerati rebels, the Data Jammers, as they hack away at the edifice of global domination by Earth Corp., the parent corporation that has consolidated control over most of the globe. The rebellion is set against a love story between Dorna and Nest, played by the show’s writers (a married couple, incidentally), who also serve as the keyboardist and guitarist for Gladshot, the live indie band that carries the rock operatic tunes. Barcode’s occupop (rockuppy? occupunk?) score is bubbly, and it moves. (Seriously, I defy any show-watcher to sit quietly, under the influence of a single beer, and not, at the very least, bop your head along with the beat) .. Performed on a crowded stage with an austere set at the Bowery, Barcode has the handmade, bootstrap feel of a musical hoisted together by sweat and toil at an Occupy encampment, and in context it works. But, you get the feeling that, like the Occupy movement itself, it wants to be bigger. One rock anthem after another begs for bigger choreography. The CEO and dictator of Earth Corp., Mr. Ice (played by American Idiot alum Brian Charles Johnson), needs a bigger world to lord over and surveil

big thanks to Denver and Huff Post! – mab .. read more