The evening has just a hint of Autumn and the sun is setting through the trees as patrons gather on the roof deck of the Morris Museum, the latest, greatest and safest venue there is, and what better place to experience the ethereal “xoxo moongirl,” a dance and music experience that will literally fly you to the moon!
We know we are in for a treat early on when we see the bare stage with musical equipment, and a small table on audience left, and a large trapeze rig that includes a red silk, managed against the stirring of the breeze. Then, enters the orchestra, as composer-singer-musician Mel Hsu, with her cello, Charles, and her mysterious guitar, flows onto the stage dressed in flowing, gorgeous red. Then playwright-aerialist-dancer Nicole Burgio emerges in white pants and top with a glass of milk and we see why the table occupies the other half of the small stage. The sun finally gives way to the first stars, and yes the Moon, though one has been thoughtfully provided in case the clouds refused to part. Burgio is literally prepared for everything!
The unfolding of “xoxo moongirl” is thrilling from the very beginning. Burgio plays chicken with the glass of milk, flirting with disaster as she nears the edge of the table. Miraculously, she catches it and we get our first lesson of the evening–however close you think you are to the edge, there’s still somewhere to go. And considering where we are going to go together, that image keeps returning to me.
We learn of a home that has love and domestic abuse in equal measure, and the toll that it takes on the woman who is trying to hold everything together for the sake of her family. Burgio is as gifted in limning the characters that populate her tale as she is at the physical derring-do that thrills at every turn. Circus-trained, she displays movements as controlled and sharp as the pictures painted with words, the thousand-cuts of domestic life with a cruel partner, the interactivity that keeps each person in the audience on the edge of a folding chair. Mel Hsu is concertmaster and prop master, ethereal singer with the voice of the void that takes Nicole Burgio to the Moon on a voyage that could only lead back to herself. The lesson lies in the journey, even when to home we return.
The--literally--concerted efforts of composer and aerialist combine most deeply for me when Burgio dons a red flowing dress--no worries, this is a PG show--and dances in the air and the stars. The silks and the trapeze are her media, as Charles the cello, the guitar, and voice are Mel Hsu’s, and their work left me breathless–I literally forgot to breathe! There is some audience participation and an artful blend of pathos and humor that make this show unforgettable.
Hungry for more art? Me three! Check out www.morrismuseum.org. I’ll see you up on the roof!