Friday Night Exclusive: R&B Star Usher In Dazzling Acrobatic Performance with Off Broadway Show
It’s hard to explain exactly what “Fuerza Bruta (Look Up)” is if you haven’t seen it off Broadway. It’s sort of like a mini Cirque du Soleil-meets-Blue Man Group. I
t’s also so totally original and exciting that Usher Raymond, the the R&B star/sex symbol, has seen it 11 times. He got the idea to launch his new single–”Scream”–and its album due on June 12th by joining the show for four performances over two days. Friday night’s shows were for friends and family. Tonight–Saturday–there are two shows for the public. This is really not to be missed. The “Fuerza” people integrated Usher and 12 of his songs including “Scream” and seven from the new album–into their routines.
The show is performed in a renovated bank found and renovated by producer Daryl Roth. This petite blonde (who’s also married to a real estate tycoon) is one of New York‘s gems, with great taste in theater. At first she used the theater for another hit performance piece, “De La Guarda.” With “Fuerza Bruta,” the audience stands for 63 minutes and moves through the one large, cavernous room as the performers change positions on stages around them. Above, the cast climbs, flies, tumbles and swims–yes, swims above the audience in what looks like a see through-bottomed pool that’s being lowered ever so slowly from the ceiling to the tops of the audiences’ heads.
Into this last night swaggered Usher, dressed in a white suit, connected to a zip cord connected to a harness he wore under the suit. While his songs played, Usher ran on a treadmill above the audience that pitched up and forward. He rehearsed “Fuerza” routines for several days. Luckily, he’s still pretty young and in good shape. He ran through “walls,” smashed through paper and confetti, and finally, of course, flew through the air with the greatest of ease. It wasn’t contrived to sell albums. You could tell he just loved it, and after he landed, he told me he’d been wanting to do it for some time. God bless him: if you can get in tonight, it’s a chance of a lifetime and a lot of fun.
So what about the new Usher songs? He’s got a bunch of hits. “Scream” is out now, and there are more to come.
RCA is dedicated to making this album work. So is Usher. Last night’s show was filmed by his crew and MTV for a special of some kind. He’s gone into a big branding plan with Charles Koppelman, the man behind Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s current merchandising, and the former CEO for Martha Stewart and Steve Madden. So get ready, it’s an Usher summer ahead. And RCA will not let what happened to Madonna, happen here, trust me. A lot of thought has gone into this.
In the meantime, what a night! What a show! And Usher had to do a second show one hour after he finished ours, at 10:30pm. And two more tonight (Saturday). Amazing is the right word for a change
