‘Boom’ lacks emotional draw

Boom is a solo documentary play that chronicles the music, culture and politics that shaped the Baby Boom generation (1945-1969). Performer Rick Miller, takes on playing everyone, taking the audience through 25 years, portraying a generation that saw the introduction of the car, the television and saw the first of space exploration.

Kdoon and Wyrd’s production of Boom takes place in the Maxbell Theatre, the large stage of Theatre Calgary and Miller fills that vast stage with a multitude of projections that admittedly, are impressive and do serve to keep time of the years, but also become a bit of a barrier between the audience and Miller. The play opens to him showing the actual people he interviewed to create the show and then proceeds to play them and tell the stories of their lives. The play is interspersed with excerpts of the music and current events that were unfolding at the time. Miller plays them all and there is no denying he is talented. He’s as convincing portraying Elvis as he is John Lennon. His characters are distinct from each other and his portrayals of them never bleed into one another.

The issue with Boom is that it’s supposed to be a play that audiences of all generations can get into. And though as the years ticked along, the music grew more familiar to this reviewer, but there was nothing much else to the production. There was no emotional layers to the storytelling or any kind of food for thought. The historical events and cultural highs and lows were told by Miller and that was it. Talent and projections do not make up for a lack of a draw in the narrative. As a non-member of the Baby Boom generation, I was left feeling unattached to the performance.

Kdoon and Wyrd’s Boom is presented by One Yellow Rabbit and Theatre Calgary as part of the High Performance Rodeo. More information and tickets are available online.

Photo Credit: David Leclerc

Tagged as: Boom, High Performance Rodeo, Kdoon and Wyrd, Rick Miller, Theatre Calgary