The Moody Concert Hall, which is accustomed to performances that honor some of the most famous musicians to ever perform, will host a brand new group that plays all original music.
Rhythm Entertainment Group will perform their debut show RHYTHMAGIC for the first time tonight at 7:30, free of charge.
The group is made up of five of the top percussion students at the University of Alabama who have come together to create a percussion performance that isn’t just pleasing to listen to. The experience that Rhythm Entertainment Group is offering has been compared to Broadway shows such as the Blue Man Group or Stomp, but they have created some of their own elements that make the show all their own.
“The idea behind it is centered around the idea of a magic show,” said Scott Radock, a senior majoring in percussion performance who started the group. “Magic is unique and amazing because it lets people experience something they haven’t experienced before.”
Tonight’s show will mix all the tricks and sounds they can create using rhythm with magic to make a show that will aim to amaze people in the same ways that magic shows do. The show will be separated into three acts, all focusing on different senses.
The first act, “See the Rhythm,” will combine lights and sounds so the audience can see what they are playing. They have custom-made LED and UV light drums, glowing drumsticks and headlights to make this possible. This act also promises something called “invisible drums” that they are keeping a secret until opening night.
The second act, “Hear the Rhythm,” will incorporate all different kinds of percussion instruments to highlight the beauty of their sounds and the skill of all the performers. The third act, “Feel the Rhythm,” will bring the audience into the show so they can become a part of the performance.
All of the theatrics and songs that will be performed during the show were written and choreographed by the five members in the group over the past six months.
“It’s basically 50 years of percussion experience on the stage,” Radock said. “We’ve all come together to convey and express a new form of entertainment for audiences and that is based on percussion itself.”
The group started because all five of the members, Radock, Derrill Koelz, Joe Collins, Johnny Suomu and Jeff Leng, realized they shared a love of entertaining people through rhythm, which is what all percussion comes down to. It’s also how they came up with the name Rhythm Entertainment Group.
“This is a story of five students coming together to make a product that they can share with the community and to hopefully one day make their livelihood with,” Koelz said. “If all of us had the choice of what to do with our lives, this is what we would all choose.”
Tonight’s show will be the first time the group has performed for anyone outside of the music department, and Collins said he is most excited to see how it’s going to be received.
All five of the group’s members said they think they have come up with a show that is uniquely entertaining and hope the audience agrees. This will be the first time that a show like this has ever been performed at the Moody Concert Hall, and Rhythm Entertainment Group hopes this will be their first of many shows here at Alabama and other places around the world.
“It’s a totally new experience,” Koelz said. “I think that’s something that we can offer that a lot of performances these days can’t. There are always going to be great performances, and I have a vast amount of respect for any performance in any form of art, but we have something new.”
