'Fuerza Bruta' promises stunning sights, sounds

Some advice for those planning to check out the international theater hit "Fuerza Bruta: Look Up" when it opens in Chicago this week: This is no sit-back-and-relax kind of show.

In fact, audience members stand and actively participate during all 70 minutes of the production, which mashes driving music and visceral visual effects together into a theatrical experience that even its performers have trouble explaining.

"It's difficult to describe exactly what people should expect," said Argentine performer Martin Buzzo, who has been a part of "Fuerza Bruta" since 2003. "It's an amazing show. It gives people a moment when they can forget their problems and just sing, dance, laugh, yell, whatever they want."

"Fuerza Bruta" (Spanish for "brute force") opens on Friday, May 21, at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University in Chicago. The production was brought here by Broadway in Chicago.

The show, the latest from "De La Guarda" co-creator Diqui James, doesn't provide a traditional narrative as much as a series of vignettes that envelop the audience in sight and sound. As the subtitle of the show suggests, most of the action takes place above the crowd, which stands in the middle of everything.

Audience members will see a man running on a treadmill, blasting through walls as he does so. They'll see swimmers moving around in a pool above their heads. (The pool will be lowered enough at one point for the audience to reach up and touch it.) And they'll hear plenty of rhythmic dance music.

Buzzo, who has traveled the globe with the show and will be part of the Chicago cast, said it would be a mistake to approach "Fuerza Bruta" from an intellectual standpoint.

"I think ('Fuerza Bruta') is about feelings - something from inside, sensation," he said. "We're trying to create something that can take people's emotions to another level, and have them share that with everyone else."

That element of sharing is key to the show's appeal, Buzzo added. At times it will feel more like a high-energy dance party than a theater performance.

"When you get angry or sad or happy in your everyday life, the body wants to do something with that emotion," he said. "But so often, we just don't express it. 'Fuerza Bruta' will encourage people to open up and let it all go."