Music, lights and motion. That's what you can expect. This evening, Creator/Director Michael Marlin opened the show with 10 minutes of jokes and juggling. He later used some of that juggling in the dark with balls lit from inside. This was a show highlight. The four ball stuff looked great, the glowing globes floating effortlessly, a hint of fingers under them intermittently, all else dark. And there were other gorgeous displays. The luman being was always welcome on stage whether as a lit stick-man or a well-dressed light-suited gentleman with a bright-brimmed hat. Also stirring where the glowing balls on a string, they cajoled applause during the performance. It made me curious as to why our eyes see the smear of light as a series of spheres instead of one solid streak.

Other than these "brilliant" moments, the wows were usually at the beginning of each routine, waning as the 3-minute music-backed piece hits midpoint. This backward emotional build needs to be reversed. Efforts were made to build on the movement, but the fact is, Luma is a spectacle, and as such has a harder job per 3 minutes than other types of stage drama. There's also an underwater segment that may appeal to little kids, but did almost nothing for me.

That said, curiosity got the better of me and I purchased Mr. Marlin's paperback book "The Contemplative Navel: Part 1 The Silliest Prophesies" after the show. An author myself, I wanted to see what words of "enlightenment" the creator of Luma might have to offer. Appropriately, the book is a light read. A sentence-long profound pun on each page accompanied by a line drawing by Marlin. They're all mildly amusing and a handful are gems. The drawings are a bit sketchy though. Great Bathroom reading.

This review based on the October 28th, 2007 show at Caltech, Beckman Auditorium. www.events.caltech.edu

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