99.9 Degrees starts promisingly enough with a choreographed sequence showing three men getting ready to go out. We follow them to a club where they dance and get into a fight, while all the while the action is choreographed. Then suddenly, the lights go down and when they come up again we find out that the actors we’ve been seeing so far have been kidnapped by terrorists. They are stuck in a room with no way of getting out, and so their individual stories unravel.
The premise itself is not, perhaps, unusual; the script is generally well-written, but seems to drag on without considering a conclusion necessary. Moreover, it appears that the different stories the characters narrate are mostly an excuse to get back into choreographed sequences re-enacting their memories. For the most part, the choreography is the most interesting aspect of this performance. Combined with remixes of classical music, these sequences are effective at getting a story across, creating an appropriate atmosphere, whilst also being quite entertaining and, at times, even funny. The only exception is the choreographed exploration of a rock star’s past who was addicted to heroin, which comes across as slightly ridiculous more than anything else. However, the choreography is where the performers are at their best.
The straight dialogue scenes are not as effective. For one thing, the acting is not as good. Across the board the actors do not speak loud enough, which often makes the dialogue impossible to follow. Moments of mounting tension came across as contrived, making true, sustained empathy for the characters practically impossible. An appropriate atmosphere is never established; I never felt worried for them, or even curious as to what would happen for that matter. There simply didn’t seem to be any meaning to what was going on and, although that may have been part of the point – after all, what meaning is there to being kidnapped by terrorists – this wasn’t done in such a way that the lack of meaning ultimately became the meaning itself. Overall, I must admit that this performance made me reach my boiling point long before it was finished.
