With crackling wit and startling honesty, the women of cakeface serve up a silver-sequined dissection of the American Dream. Synthesizing razor-sharp choreography and a poker-faced delivery of original text, the cast shatters the facade of “making it.” Featuring live-mixed sound and visuals from electronic duo Prism House and clips from the 80s cult public access tv show of the same name, Stairway to Stardom honors the contributions of the wildly passionate but questionably talented among us.

Florence Foster Jenkins, speaking of her struggle to be an accomplished artist, once observed that although some people said she couldn’t sing, they could never say she didn’t sing. It’s a moment of dignity and tragedy and accomplishment all in a moment. The same may be said of Stairway to Stardom, the new multi-disciplinary piece from the dignified and talented dance company cakeface led by Amanda Szeglowski, at HERE Arts Center. Full disclosure, I don’t have a background in dance, so I was a bit concerned that I might not find a personal resonance in dance-theatre. However, as soon as the performance began and I saw videos projected of the original Stairway to Stardom participants (a cable access show from the ’80s), I realized that I was in the right place. Essentially, I was home. Full disclosure again, I do have a seriously disabled little brother whom I adore. My mother always told us that our brother’s dignity was always to be respected. We could laugh at times, but not at the trying. The trying was always part of the struggle to maintain his personal dignity. I recall a lot of laughter in my memories of my family and what resonated for me wildly during the performance (smoo …Read more