Paula Abdul Soars In Dreamlike Concert

Paula Abdul and Color me Badd, at the Tacoma Dome last Friday night. ---------------------------

The trouble with being a short dancer - and Paula Abdul is a munchkin - is that you have to move twice as fast as everyone else just to get noticed. Abdul, try as she may, isn't quite up to warp speed. So she's done the smart thing.

She's surrounded herself with talent. From her dancers and musicians to her lighting and set designers, Paula Abdul's collaborative "Under My Spell" was first-rate from top to bottom, start to finish.

Not to say Abdul got carried, she didn't. Well, there were a few lifts. But over all she held her own, center and catalyst.

With the opening "Spellbound" Abdul entered - no, literally flew - from a lit trapdoor in the stage floor to the very ceiling of the Tacoma Dome. It was not unlike Tinkerbell's nightly appearance over Disneyland, an electronic fireworks display. Once Abdul settled down, two dancers on 10-foot stilts with long, metal balancing rods floated in from the wings like praying mantises. It was curiously dreamlike, not at all the normal variety show bump-and-grind.

And that was the transcendent aspect of the Abdul presentation. This was not casino showroom burlesque like say, Cher. This was Vegas gone video virtual reality. Abdul is a child of the tube and its technology. True, it's MTV, but it was at once fantastic and real. Well, the dancing part at least. Abdul had a lot of audio

assistance. Still, you can't fake good movement and design.

This was especially true during "Blowing Kisses in the Wind." While Abdul delivered the sweet, wistful ballad from the second tier, two couples danced a pas de deux below, a member of each team harnessed to fly. While one partner remained an earthbound anchor, the other literally soared against a video backdrop of fat white clouds billowing across violently blue skies. It was breathtaking. It left the audience stunned.

All the songs served as vehicles for the larger movement. The Ice Capade-ish "Opposites Attract" featured a dancer costumed as M.C. Skat Kat, Abdul's cartoon buddy from the song's video. "Vibeology" was a wonderful display of weirdly futuristic dress and movement and "Cold Hearted," Abdul's Bob Fosse-inspired group-grope, was just as snaky and sensual as the video.

Abdul made one reference to her new husband, Emilio Estevez, at the end of "Will You Marry Me?" The couple wed last Thursday. There was no mention of the week's social unrest, although the reality of rioting and violence must surely have contributed to the small turnout. The Dome was only half full, and most of the concert-goers were very young - barely pubescent - females accompanied by one or both parents.

Color Me Badd garnered a lot of screaming. They were okay.