Jabbawockeez ‘MUS.I.C’

The Jabbawockeez want you, Mr. Old Guy Who Rolls Up His Window When the Next Car is Bass-thumping at the Intersection.

I'm not sure they really need you -- or me, as the case may be when something good's on NPR. But it's nice to be thought of.

The masked break-dancing troupe is shaping up as the entertainment success story of the year, but it still wants to keep the doors as wide open and welcoming as possible.

"MUS.I.C" at the Monte Carlo is already selling tickets to the vast age group that lies between "The Lion King" youngsters and their parents. But the kinetic ensemble with world domination in mind wants those families, too.

The wall-to-wall mix tape for this talk-free enterprise serves up plenty of gut-rumbling bass. But it also rallies the over-40s by letting the Jabbawockeez play charades with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and exalt Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" in a jubilant finale.

The music has many other entry points, including a rain-gear salute to Gene Kelly in "Singin' in the Rain" and wooing a woman pulled from the crowd with a charming John Legend piano breakdown of Slum Village's "Selfish."

Still, the break dancing is going to draw a line in the sand.

For devotees, this will be a thrilling 90 minutes. For others, it will feel like everything could have been done in 75 or 80. No reason for either side to feel bad. This is, at heart, a dance show. Break dancing is what the Jabbawockeez do, and they are damn good at it.

In one comic bit a Jabba -- dressed up like an artist with a beret and mustache pasted onto his signature white mask -- pulls a guy onstage to "pose" for his canvas. The guy follows along, copying one pose, then a second, and -- boom! -- the Jabba does some kind of flip from a stand-still position that you want to rewind and replay in slo-mo.

The group's big conceit -- that everyone wears the same masks and white gloves (and even covers bare patches of skin) -- forces you to look at the big picture, the geometry and precision of their movements. When you do, you are often amazed.

But the "MUS.I.C" (read "Muse I See) that debuted at the MGM Grand in May was cheap-looking and repetitious. Directors Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo have done much to speed up the flow and variety of the material. They have expanded the range beyond mime and break dance, using every tool they can without betraying the basic premise.

A ninja showdown is much stronger with gravity-defying blacklight effects spoofing kung fu movies. The first third of the show no longer looks threadbare, thanks to framing the stage with props of giant stereo speakers; each "bass" is a video screen to help scoot things along with connective material and visual jokes.

Some cool effects are saved for the third act, when a sound snippet from "The Matrix" offers the choice of the blue or red pill. The Jabba we've followed as a stage-sweeping everyman opts to find out "how deep the rabbit hole goes," leading to a giant mask, a rear-wall video screen and the troupe's new single, "Robot Remains."

It all still feels a bit restricted without the ability to speak or show faces. But it does celebrate our pop culture with a juvenile energy and young person's humor that wears down your defenses.

The lads hip-shake and nag-point to Beyonce's "Single Ladies," and when the female recruit leaves the stage, the music chimes in with Hall & Oates' "She's Gone."

Even an old guy's gotta smile at that.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.