Safe and Sound

On Sunday, I headed over to The Great Hall to see Maylee Todd's Virtual Womb show. Since there was quite the line-up at the last incarnation, I was there right at the "door opens" time. Unfortunately, we were still packed cheek to jowl in the stairwell as the organizers didn't open until 20 minutes later. The show's conceit is that the hall is a womb, which you enter through a giant fabric vulva (designed by Roxane Ignatius). Inside, you are encouraged to lie down on the floor with any blankets you have brought while the thump-thump of a heartbeat played in the background, and psychedelic projections cycled on the ceiling and walls.

You could stay that way for the entire show or you could sit up and experience Maylee Todd, a string section, backup singers, and dancers work their way through Todd's repertoire. The set was an equal mix of new songs from her album release and old songs drastically reworked. Somehow, the show straddled both soothing and funky.

It was, both the show and the new releases, a therapy session for Todd. It became clear through her stories that she has been doing some exploration of meditation and mindfulness and psychological self-analysis. She has chosen to share these discoveries, sometimes painful or embarrassing, with her fans/friends through music. It was a wonderful and elaborate show. I don't know if Todd even broke even on ticket sales, given how many people were obviously involved, but I'm glad she made it.