FRINGE REVIEW: The Gate Reopened

Those who remember the 2003 version of the show's famed "flying boobs" routine (involving two topless women spinning around on a suspended metal ladder) can rest assured that part's back.

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FRINGE REVIEW: The Gate Reopened

POSTED: Saturday, September 15, 2012, 2:40 PM

Filed Under: Arts | Dance On the Fringe

Every year, there's hundreds and hundreds of performances at the Philly Fringe and Live Arts Festival, and unless it's one of the big shows, it's sometimes hard to tell what you're going to get. Here at Critical Mass we're sending writers to as many shows as we possibly can for 75 pocket-sized reviews over the course of the fest. Check back in with us at On The Fringe every day for real talk on what these things actually are!

SHOW: The Gate Reopened

GROUP: Brian Sanders' JUNK

GENRE: Dance

ATTENDED: Fri., Sept. 14, 10 p.m.

CLOSES: Sat., Sept. 22

BRIEF SELF-DESCRIPTION: The Gate Reopened takes over Pier 9, a municipal warehouse on the Delaware River that is nearly 100 feet wide by 535 feet long and where international steamers once docked. Inside this massive structure The Gate has been built anew as a 20-foot high cylindrical octagon. With theater-in-the-round seating, audiences encircle the eight dancers in what has become a futuristic, post-industrial, post-apocalyptic coliseum. Performers suspend, rebound, propel, ascend, hover, mount, hang, and free-fall all for the sake of The Gate. Like a giant jungle gym for the insane with spinning ladders, moving walls, water, and breathtaking formations of bodies, The Gate Reopened is an exhilarating feast of exciting physicality and creativity, elegantly served up with beauty and wit.

WE THINK: This is another of Brian Sanders’ trademark sexy thrill rides that makes you think, “Did he/she really do that?” It’s packed with precarious, ingenious stunts that put his toned corps through the physical wringer, as they spin, climb, backbend, free-fall and otherwise cavort about an industrial playground/cage-match set. A reimagining of an earlier work that drew big crowds at the 2003 Fringe, this version is even more spectacular. But those who recall the former show’s famed "flying boobs" routine (involving two topless women spinning around on a suspended metal ladder) can rest assured that part’s back, and it still makes you go wow.

Yet The Gate Reopened is more than just breathtaking physical stunts. There’s a glorious artistry that captivates your senses. You’re taken away from the everyday, to be whisked off into a world that’s dark and mysterious and full of fantastic beautiful imagery. Sanders' shows always spark a good buzz, and this one’s no exception.

—Deni Kasrel

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Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

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