A lot of shows try to be more than one
thing. It makes sense, letting them find appeal on some tracks even
if others fall through. And all too often, reaching for more than
was necessary causes the work to fail on all marks. Similarly, you
sometimes get shows that aren’t smart, but want you to think they
are, resulting in a pretentious mess that didn’t need to be one and
could have worked if it embraced a simple core. These are pretty
common results.
Arpeggio of Blue Steel is exactly the
opposite of that. It’s a show that reaches for a couple of things,
but achieves them all as well as it was going to. And it’s a show
that has a very intelligent core, but while not exactly being ashamed
of its intelligence largely doesn’t draw attention to it, being
humble rather than pretentious. It’s not a masterpiece by any means,
but it’s worth some deeper investigation.
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