A woman emerges from a suitcase. Two men wander off. A man sleds his way down the stairs while a woman skitches her way down atop a tire. The dark sinister elements give way to playful abstractions, like bodies bounding through the air while the staircase opens to reveal trap doors within. In the end, a man appears atop the stairs and raises his arms Broadway-finale style.
Life is a cabaret, old chum.
The magnificent set designed by Daniel Wheeler and engineered by Dan Williams is a massive cross-section of a ship's hull, an abstracted 21st century galleon that dips and sways with the weight of the dancers' movements. The people come and go talking of Michelangelo. Bodies collide and slide overboard. When the sets are reduced in size to props handled by the performers, the magic depends on the deft manipulation of objects. Nor does the movement contain that Streb-like thrill of impact, making it more banal than breathtaking.