CAGES: A World Unto Itself
Welcome to Anhedonia, a dystopian city where emotions have been outlawed. The world is one of black and white, where citizen’s hearts are locked away in cages. The sky is overcast and gray, and if anyone shows any sign of emotion they are quickly reprogrammed.
You’ve entered Anhedonia through the back alley in the Arts District. You are there to witness the execution of the criminal Woolf, who is guilty of the crime of falling in love.
Welcome to the live stage show CAGES, the next step in theatrical entertainment.
Welcome to a new world.
CAGES was created by Woolf (CJ Baran) and The Wondershow (Benjamin Romans), two friends who met through their mutual careers in music.
Inspired by immersive theater, Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, and 1920’s German Expressionist films such as “Metropolis” and “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, the two spent countless nights writing music to tell their story.
“We made 10,000 mistakes,” says Romans, “and we worked backwards. We had an idea, and then we needed to figure out the technology.”“We were trying to disrupt,” says Baran. “We were trying to do something no one else has done before, especially on the technical side.”
After entering into the secret world you are allowed to roam around the bar, where mixologists pour cocktails and the citizens of Anhedonia lurk in the shadows. There are easter eggs and hidden moments for those willing to be patient and observe. For the rest of us, the cocktails are outstanding.
When it is time for the performance to start you are led into a theater that the team built out specifically for this production.
The show is a technological spectacle that truly must be seen to be believed. Through the use of projection mapping, backlit screens and a top notch soundsystem, you experience something halfway between an EDM concert and a Broadway musical.
There’s a back screen, like a standard movie screen, and then a transparent front screen that the actors play in between. Projections create a 3D effect between the two screens, which is a visual feast for the eyes.
Woolf is the main character in the saga, a kind of hipster Hunchback of Notre Dame hidden away in the town’s clocktower. Throughout the show he interacts with a small group of supporting players, but mostly performs against projections and images on the screens.
During the show Romans plays music live in the wings of the stage. Mirrors positioned over his keyboard show that he is actually playing the keys while Baran is so precise with his vocals and movements, it’s hard to believe that he’s actually singing the whole time. (He is.) The music is catchy and inventive. This is not your run of the mill musical.
CAGES is new. CAGES is different. CAGES is trippy and surreal and magical, and quite different than any other kind of performance you have ever seen.
The show is releasing tickets slowly and deliberately, relying on word of mouth and social media to market. They ended 2019 with a month of sold out shows, and are anticipating high demand for 2020.
“We have people who’ve come back, like, ten times,” says Baran.
“It’s like ‘Field of Dreams’” says Romans. “We built it, and people came.”
cagesdtla.com/ | 1926 E 7th Place, Los Angeles, CA 90021
Written by Abel Horwitz | Photography by David Richardson
