Want your music loud and funky? Want your immersive theatre dripping with charisma and big personalities? You’re in luck: Brassroots District: LA ’74, currently running in Los Angeles through the end of March, has both, with swagger. This sequel to Brassroots District: Live in the Lot Summer '73 (2021) also doesn’t require you to have attended the previous one to follow the story. (My own experience is proof, as this was my first encounter with the band.)
It’s February 1974. Nixon’s in the White House. Vietnam’s in the rear view window. And the nine piece soul and funk band Brassroots District is playing a show to celebrate the release of their debut album on indie label For the People. But a slick-looking suit from a major label crashes their party. As you might suspect, all hell breaks out. The concert is the show and the show is the concert, unfolding onstage, backstage, at the bar, in the crowd, even outside.
Created by Ari Herstand and Andrew Leib, with a book by Chris Porter, the show’s unique format makes it easy to groove to the music, then follow a character or two as they bolt offstage, and then return to the dance floor. Periodically, things also go down between the main characters on stage, making the big plot points easy to follow. The hardest choice for immersive-heads will be what strands to pull on. You might stay in the main room and watch the band play, gossip with some of the band’s superfans, sneak off with Barry the journalist (Adam Fisher) as he tries to break into the desk of club manager Gem (Morgan Danielle Day), follow label owner Gil (who is also lead singer Ursa’s brother, played by Marqell Edward Clayton) as he confronts the band’s manager Nancy (Kayah Alexandra Bullock), listen in on a heated conversation between the band’s romantically entangled co-leads Ursa (Celeste Butler Clayton) and Copper (Ari Herstand), or investigate what the heck Donny (Bryan Daniel Porter) from Columbia Records is really up to. Luckily, the main room is intimate enough to feel like you’re up close and personal with the members of the cast, while remaining spacious enough to dance.
The creators request that this be a phone-free experience, to make it really feel like it’s 1974, and provide a small ziplock bag to place your smart devices in. Several audience members were also dressed in their 1970s best on the night I attended, making it hard to tell who was a guest and who was part of the show (there’s eleven different characters you can interact with). And the location, Jewel’s Catch One, is itself a piece of LA music history: a disco owned and operated by a black woman serving the Black LGBTQ community; the character of the club manager, Gem, takes inspiration from her real-life counterpart.
The themes in Brassroots District: LA ‘74 will likely hit familiar notes. Toiling away at a debut album. Clashing with the band’s manager and label owner. Figuring out how to best serve their community. And navigating the dilemma of protecting a creative vision versus “selling out to the man.” It’s a classic you’ve heard dozens of times before, but the crowd goes wild for it, marking the difference simply between knowing the standards and nailing them.
And the live music? Joyful, infectious, and on point. The horns are tight, the rhythm section is locked in, and the two leads in the show — Copper and Ursa — do double duty. One minute they’re performing the custom written music while on stage and interacting with other characters and guests mere seconds later. It’s evident that everybody in the room is having a blast, even if they don’t engage with the immersive elements, which are completely optional. Shy audience members can simply enjoy the band’s set without talking to any of the actors, making this a great experience to take immersive-newbie friends and family to. (The sound quality is also excellent: loud enough to dance to, without blowing out your eardrums.)
So dig out your favorite bell bottoms, throw on your best paisley, and get ready to boogie. The dance floor is calling.
Brassroots District '74 plays on select Friday and Saturday nights at Catch One through March 28th.
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