Dream While You're Awake With Chimney Choir's Dream Show Encore

Most artists only dream of getting a do-over, an opportunity to revisit a specific night of magic and spin it out again.

But that's what Chimney Choir will be doing this weekend with Dream Show at the Mercury Cafe.

"Doing shows like this, that are interdisciplinary and higher collaborations, are something that we just can't get enough of," says vocalist/percussionist/guitarist David Rynhart. "I feel like our creative growth as a band comes in large part from these collaborative shows that we do, and we just look for any excuse to do them."

Last November's show was an album-release party; Rynhart said that inspired Chimney Choir "to go all out and make it as interesting a show as we could."

That first iteration of Dream Show included puppets, 3-D animations and other theatrical touches in addition to the music.
It probably goes without saying that if you give an artist an opportunity for a do-over, the artist will make some embellishments.

"Everyone saw ways of making it better," explains Rynhart. "Of course, doing it again, we don't want to do it exactly the same way; we wanted to take out parts that we thought didn't work so well."

One new element is a collaboration with the virtual-reality art-show outfit DenVR. "That's definitely added some depth to the show," Rynhart said.

The band has created new music, too, and the theater, technology, dance, video and virtual-reality components create an immersive theatrical experience. There's a story being told that threads it all together, and each element works to support the story as it coaxes the audience further into the world of Dream Show.
"I’m curious to really take people on a journey, and I’m also curious about creating a sense of the unexpected. When you’re in a state where you don’t know what’s going to happen next, you pay attention to everything that’s going on around you," notes Rynhart. "And I feel that when you’re paying attention in that way, you receive the expression and the creativity as someone in the audience with more depth.

"We are trying to create a world in this show," he adds, which will be supported by the animations, the characters and the scenes unfolding inside the space — plus using virtual reality in a couple of different ways. Characters within the Dream Show will create something in a virtual world that the audience will be able to see," says Rynhart, and afterward, audience members can offer a donation to try on a VR helmet and step inside the world themselves.

Dream Show, 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 21, Mercury Cafe, 2199 California Street, $20, 303-294-9281.