Before singer/popstar Gwen Stefani’s solo career went bananas, and she started hawking everything from her fashion line, Harajuku Girls perfume, ruby red lipstick and platinum blonde hair dye, she was, and still is, the lead singer of band No Doubt
The band reached its heyday in the ‘90s with hits such as Just a Girl, Spiderwebs, and Don’t Speak, which still receive occasional radio play.
Those songs, among others, will be featured in the performance Sold Doubt, coming to the Vernon Performing Arts Centre April 1.
The show is a “contemporary dance rock concert,” as described by choreographer Josh Beamish, also artistic director of Move: The Company whose dancers will perform to instrumental renditions of No Doubt’s greatest hits.
However, the performance is more than just about the music, said Beamish, explaining he uses the band as a platform to explore society’s greater addiction to the idols we create –– and then dispose of: a concept he describes as the “underbelly” of the show.
“It’s about straddling the line between what is art and what is entertainment and who is it that actually decides that,” said Beamish, in an interview with Madeleine Shaw, the Performing Arts Centre’s dance outreach coordinator. “How much of what we see as artistic entertainment is really about the art itself and how much is it about the marketing and the merchandising?”
Dynamic in theme and concept, Sold Doubt interweaves these larger questions about the industry with the history of a specific band. However, you do not have to be a fan of No Doubt to appreciate the work on stage.
The music behind the show is recorded instrumental covers of No Doubt’s chart topping hits –– sometimes by an entire orchestra or string quartet, and sometimes by a full band.
“We took the lyrics out,” explained Beamish, “We tried to re-inject them through the movement vocabulary.
“There are some No Doubt songs that I never really listened to before I began this piece, but when the beat or melody is reinterpreted in an orchestra or string quartet, it becomes an incredible beautiful composition in and of itself.”
The result is a dance blending high-octane physicality with a witty sense of theatrics.
The fourth of five shows from the Performing Arts Centre’s dance series, Sold Doubt takes the stage at the centre April 1 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $30/adult, $27/senior and $25/student at the Ticket Seller, 549-7469, www.ticketseller.ca.
