If you’re looking for an alternative to The Nutcracker during the festive season, then ZooNation’s hip-hop Ebony Scrooge will have you dancing in the aisles. Director, writer and choreographer Dannielle ‘Rhimes’ Lecointe has based her dance extravaganza on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol but has brought it up to date and added a few twists.
Set in a fashion house in London, famed for its monochrome designs, Ebony rules her team with an iron fist. She’s cancelled Christmas and plans a landmark fashion show in place of the usual festivities. We learn that she associates that time of year with the loss of family and grief, thus she’s banned colours from her palette.
The storytelling is easy to follow partly because there are narrators, projections and songs which keep the audience in the loop. Other than the central role of Ebony (Leah Hill), there are other partially recognisable characters: Bob (Malachi Welch) is secretly in love with Ebony and dreams of dressing her in richly coloured garments; Freddie (Portia Oti), Ebony’s niece, has been consistently rejected by her aunt and yearns for some connection.
While Ebony sleeps, we are taken on a journey through her present, future and past (in that order), all embellished with really tremendous dancing.
The music, composed by Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante, covered a broad range of themes including the odd Christmas carol, alongside a lot of very pacy, danceable beats that made me fidget in my seat. Lecointe has adeptly rewritten the story to include her own Caribbean roots and while the ‘past’ visitation was the most poignant, coming towards the end of the show as it did, it lacked the oomph that was so much in evidence at the beginning.
There were some amusing references – I liked the Bar Humbug, the projections of Spiderman, the Grinch and the flying Christmas puddings. Costumes (by Natalie Pryce) were stunning in their monochrome scenes and in the ‘future’ when red puffer jackets adorned the dancers beneath a projection of Ebony’s grave. However, when Ebony finally repents and brings colour into her designs in a grand finale, I expected more of a statement. Their outfits were still predominantly black and white.
Whatever the delights or disappointments of the stage design, this show was really about the dancing, which was superlative. With a request to “make as much noise as possible” it was difficult to refrain from whooping and clapping. Whether it was breaking, popping and locking, waacking and vogueing or tutting and doing a bit of K.R.U.M.P., the entire cast offered high-octane, supremely vibrant and at times, jaw dropping sequences of rip-roaring dance moves.
There were moments when bodies were literally hurtling through the air, upside down or horizontal, seeming to bounce off pockets of air. Especially good were the big ensemble numbers where they locked and vogued in unison.
Hill’s Ebony was bad-ass, sassy, powerful. Her strong stage presence oozed charisma whether in ‘mean boss’ mode or as reformed character. Oti was a most endearing Freddie and Deavion Brown as Tren and Liberty Greig as Dee could have outdanced the best of them. But it was Welch in the Bob Cratchit role who pulled the biggest punches. The height and dynamics of his airborne antics and the sincerity of his portrayal were enthralling.
ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company comprises highly individual personalities that pull together as a team to deliver compelling, transfixing performances. Even the curtain calls, which saw the audience on their feet dancing along (under instruction!), allowed each dancer a moment of glory to shine and shine they did. Health warning: ZooNation – highly infectious but don’t try it at home.
