Emergence is quite a head trip. One without the need for any chemical enhancements. Patrick Olson and his wonderfully talented troupe of musicians, singers, dancers, and visual designers are a marvel creating a unique theatrical experience combining science and art in a most entertaining and mind-expanding way. If you’re a fan of David Byrne’s American Utopia, this is the show for you.
And like Byrne, Olson is a nerdy-looking white dude with a highly inquisitive brain. His show is framed by the mantra “things are not as they seem”, and throughout he asks big existential questions: Are we alive? Where does love come from? When are we? And on and on.
It may sound like pseudo-intellectual claptrap, but don’t dismiss it. Olson is a science geek with a lot of fascinating factoids at his disposal. There is no intrinsic color, he tells us. When we see a yellow tulip, it’s actually yellow light reflecting off the flower’s surface. We say we’re alive, but there’s nothing living inside of us. We’re made up of inanimate elements. What is consciousness but electrical and biochemical signals on the brain. He talks about spatial paradigms and the relativity of time and space, making it impossible to pinpoint exactly when and where we are in the universe. And considering that life on earth started as a single cell which turned into 37 trillion cells within each of us, he gives us a unique perspective on the miracle of existence that we all share.
Olson is the first to admit it’s all so overwhelming. He even reacted to the mind-bending ideas he introduced with an unscientific response: he screamed, explaining that he’s filled with awe and wonder. There’s actually a word for it he tells us … something that astronauts experience taking in the vastness of the universe. They call it “the overview effect.”
If that’s all there was to Emergence, it would be a nifty physics lecture. But Olson is quite a showman. And happily he takes us back down to earth with his other passion — songwriting — a talent that he displays quite capably along with the expert assistance of some fine musicians and singers. The four-piece band — drums, keyboard, guitar, and bass — and four backup singers, led by the very lovely vocal director Cherry Davis, are sublime. The songs are an eclectic mix of synth-rock and conceptually heady tunes. “Moons Of Jupiter” is especially captivating. I only wish the lyrics were easier to make out amid the heavy-duty amplification.
Adding to the production are three marvelous dancers, one of whom must have rubber for limbs. They appear every once in a while to complement the overall effect which can be mesmerizing at times.
And then there’s the backdrop of digital imagery credited to a group of LED visual designers who provide a whole other artistic layer to this multi-media feast which also benefits from some dazzling lighting effects.
It’s an offbeat show that fulfills all of its intentions. It makes you think about the big questions and it points to pure science for the answers, something we desperately need in this hopelessly fractured world. At its best, Emergence is a balm for what divides us with a sense of cosmic connection. And if that doesn’t grab you, at the very least, your senses are getting a hell of a stimulation.
Emergence opened October 25, 2023, at Signature Center and runs through January 7, 2024. Tickets and information: emergenceshow.com
