What’s Love Bomb about anyway? It’s about “taxi dancers.” Even if it isn’t. So, what’s a taxi dancer? Early last century, taxi dancers attended dance halls, being paid in exchange for a single dance, maybe paid again for another, maybe paid once more for…?

Did we mention it’s a musical?

Featuring songs from 1970’s cultural icon and singer-songwriter Melanie, the First Lady of Woodstock notoriously famous for “Brand New Key” aka The Roller Skates song. Yeah, THAT Melanie.

This experimental new musical invites you to join us at the dance hall where there’s nothing people won’t do to find love. The rest is going to have to remain a surprise and you can bet it will be.

Catastrophic is a “make-your-own-meaning” theatre and nobody exemplifies that ethic better than Brian Jucha, who employs found text, pop culture, music, and intensive ensemble work to mystify, surprise, and enthrall audiences in ways they’d never imagined possible.

About MELANIE

MELANIE Melanie, born Melanie Safka, is an iconic American singer-songwriter known for her unique voice and timeless hits from the 1960s and 70s. Rising to fame with performances at Woodstock and chart-topping songs like ‘Brand New Key’ and ‘Lay Down (Candles in the Rain),’ as well as her 1970 version of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday,” Melanie’s music captures the spirit of an era.

Conceived and Directed by

BRIAN JUCHA

has created original interdisciplinary theatre works for decades. An early participant in the development of Viewpoints Theory, the experimental dance-theatre savant worked with Anne Bogart for years culminating in the formation of Via Theater which he ultimately took over as artistic director. As part of the downtown New York City performance landscape of the 90’s, Via Theatre produced 2 to 3 original works a year to consistent rave reviews from The New York Times.

Love Bomb will be his 5th collaboration with Catastrophic and its forerunner Infernal Bridegroom Productions, including They Do Not Move, Toast, Last Rites and We Have Some Planes, which landed Jucha and the Catastrophic/IBP ensemble the cover of American Theatre magazine.

Jucha’s greatest personal triumph came in collaboration with the company of actors of INFERNAL BRIDEGROOM PRODUCTIONS with WE HAVE SOME PLANES. Less then 6 months after September 11 – the New York artist used the verbatim transcripts from the morning of 9/11 between the cockpits and pilots of the four planes that crashed that day and the air traffic controllers along the east coast corridor as the basis of a new work. Performed underneath a looming bright red digital clock that ticked away the 75 minutes leading up to the disaster – with the text delivered in real time – Jucha and IBP broke all expectations for audiences and critics and delivered a groundbreaking theatrical experience that did not address the tragedies of that day as much as it created an emotional rollercoaster ride that examined the world in which we lived in – a world that would never quite be the same. WE HAVE SOME PLANES received critical rave reviews, standing ovations and the cover of American Theatre magazine.

Jucha gained a reputation as an established ‘traditional’ director helming the reins of plays and musicals such as Stephen Belber’s TAPE, Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses and BAT BOY The Musical. He was more widely known for collaborating closely with ensembles of actors to create original pieces. He is a theater artist who is not a playwright. He relies as heavily on stylized movement as he does on spoken text. His singular performance style is always visually arresting, engaging, and entertaining.

The performances – conceived by Jucha – working closer with actors – have ranged from performance/dance to adaptations of plays to original rock operas, to theater of the absurd collages using current events, texts from found sources (court trials, newspaper articles, self-help books); kaleidoscopes of music, sound and soaring singing; and always a technically proficient array of imagery and movement.

All of Jucha’s productions have developed out of a life’s work studying VIEWPOINTS. Many artists have utilized the benefits of Viewpoints training over the last 3 decades, Jucha is one of the few who was part of the original conception, having worked with both its creators dancer/choreographer Mary Overlie and Anne Bogart who adapted its use towards theater.

In the Media

Review: LOVE BOMB at CATASTROPHIC THEATRE – An artsy love letter to Melanie and mass hysteria

November 17, 2024 | Broadway World | Brett Cullum

“LOVE BOMB is a masterpiece of the absurd, but at the same time, it’s a viable Melanie jukebox musical that could command any stage in town. … But don’t miss this one because it is one of the rare pieces of theater that feels like art.”

REVIEW: Love Bomb an Emotional Blast at The Catastrophic Theatre

November 16, 2024 | Houston Press | Natalie de la Garza

“…an absurd, weirdly familiar, and inexplicably funny package.”

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Love BombBrian Jucha and the Catastrophic ensemble

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