‘Message In A Bottle’ – Directed and Choreographed by Kate Prince. Music and Lyrics by Sting. Music Supervision and New Arrangements by Alex Lacamoire. Set Design by Ben Stone. Video Design by Andrej Goulding. Costume Design by Anna Fleischle. Lighting Design by Natasha Chivers. Sound Design by David McEwan. Presented by Sadler’s Wells and Universal Music UK and ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company at the Emerson Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston St., Boston, through March 30.
By Linda Chin
The spectacular touring production Message In A Bottle that is taking cities in the US by storm – LA, Denver, Chicago – has washed ashore at Boston’s Emerson Colonial for a limited run (through March 30) before making its way down the East Coast to Charlotte, NYC, DC, and Philadelphia. World-class, award-winning creatives Sting (music and lyrics), Kate Prince (director and choreographer), and Alex Lacamoire, of Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen fame (music supervision, new arrangements), have built a show with no spoken narrative or dialogue. A phenomenal corps of 14 storyteller dancers tell an urgent, and unfortunately timely, tale – of families displaced from their war-torn villages, of three siblings separated from their parents and one another, of refugees seeking safety and new places to call home – with the universal languages of movement and music.
The story unfolds through twenty-eight tableaux, each inspired by one of Sting’s iconic songs – including ‘Every Breath You Take,’ ‘Field of Gold,’ and ‘Roxanne.” Set in the village of Bebko, the opener ‘Desert Rose’ starts the show off with a celebratory tone, acrobatic, athletic dancing with performers flipping and jumping for joy, costumes with flowy drapes and soft hues, and akin to the lyrics – dreams of rain, which culminate with a storm. The artistry and collaboration of designers Ben Stone (sets), Andrej Goulding (videos), Anna Fleischle (costumes), Natasha Chivers (lighting), and David McEwan (sound) add to the stage magic and support the storytelling throughout.
Audiences are taken on a physical and emotional journey, transported from a small village to a perilous ocean passage (while donning skimpy orange life jackets) to refugee camps encircled with barbed wire fences. We move from being the joyful guests at a wedding celebration to the helpless observers of women being assaulted by faceless guards donning black headpieces. With dance genres ranging from ballet to breakdance, the performers’ bodies and limbs changing from flowing and extended to stiff, angular, and contracted without missing a beat, the movement is energetic, electrifying, meditative, and mesmerizing.
Like me, Message In A Bottle may transform you in several respects. I will never hear the song ‘Every Breath You Take’ (whose lyrics referred to a single stalker) the same way again, and my appreciation of Sting’s artistry has grown. The poignant story of one refugee family’s struggle is moving, but knowing that the number of people currently displaced by conflict or persecution is equivalent to the number of inhabitants in California, Colorado, Illinois, MA, NC, NYC, DC, and PA combined is startling. And witnessing the energy, commitment, and generosity of the young performers in ZooNation makes my heart soar. At its best, live arts performance reminds us of what it means to be human. Message In A Bottle soars. The ninety minutes fly by. Runs through March 30, 2024. Catch it if you can.
