‘Groovaloo’ has energy but fails to make us care

Dance, 10. Book, 3.

Let’s face it: If you’re a show based on the lives of 16 hip-hop dancers and you’re calling yourself a cross between “A Chorus Line” and “Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk,” there had better be a thread of genius running through you. And in “Groovaloo,” a world premiere that opened at the Falcon Theatre over the weekend, that thread is thin and stretched to the breaking point.

Co-conceived by Bradley “Shooz” Rapier, a rockin’ dancer who wrote the book, and Danny Cistone, who also directed, “Groovaloo” is not without its pluses: methedrine-like energy, heart-stopping head-spinning, and a smattering of popping, locking and self-referential charm. But there’s no core, nobody to really care about, an episode with a gun notwithstanding.

In other words, “Groovaloo” lacks theater cred.

Taped voice-overs offer glimpses of these neither disparate nor desperate young lives (for the latter, see the documentary “Rize”), with cliches abounding: “What do we see when we look in the mirror?” “Acting is the study of life.” Charlie “Vzion” Schmidt may pipe in with a live spoken word, but the great fugue of voices doesn’t add up to an inspired, melodious whole.

The L.A.-based Groovaloos, who began as a hip-hop group in 1999, have star power, the dancers having appeared in films, commercials, videos and on pop-star tours, though there’s no mention in the show of a grueling audition process. But their wattage both explodes and dissipates on Yael Pardess’ sleek set of platforms and stairs, as bits are tossed off cavalierly in unsatisfying snippets that disappear in the morass of the many lives, the many armless flips, the many split jumps.

As for the smoking sounds of “Groovaloo,” most are on tape. Randy Bernal (DJ Wish) spins and scratches only about 10% of the time.

Without the immediacy of live, rabid vinyl machinations (as seen in Rennie Harris’ touring show “The Legends of Hip-Hop”), a canned quality pervades.

Hip-hop, the art form, is hot, valid and can sucker punch your emotions. So where’s the grit -- the urgency -- on this road from ‘hood to screen to stage? “Groovaloo” is a little too groovy for its own good.

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‘Groovaloo’

Where: Falcon Theatre, 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 4 p.m. Sundays

Ends: Aug. 28

Price: $15 to $25

Contact: (818) 955-8101

Running time: 80 minutes