Igor Stravinsky would have loved "Stomp." The revolutionary composer of "The Rite of Spring" maintained that rhythm and motion were the real "foundations of musical art," rather than that messier quality known as feeling, and the indestructible "Stomp," which pounded its way into the Hippodrome this week, is nothing if not tons of rhythm and motion.

The coolest thing about the way those elements are combined is how they generate both a satisfying kind of music and 90 minutes or so of entertaining theater -- a pretty neat trick, which explains why "Stomp" became a global sensation in short order after its Edinburgh Festival premiere nearly 20 years ago.

Co-creator/directors Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas seized upon the familiar notion that you can produce rhythmic interest from almost any object, trying out everything and the kitchen sink, but they didn't leave it at that and settle for just an offbeat percussive parade. They provided a basic, elastic framework to hold it all together and, most welcome, introduced splashes of humor.

The wordless result communicates more engagingly than some talky plays; the tightly choreographed routines are as impressive, in their own way, as a seasoned ballet company's most polished and complicated dancing. The propulsive rhythmic patterns stick mostly with fundamental three- or four-beat patterns, yet allow for an extraordinary range of intricate syncopations within.

Even folks who have had prior visits to a "Stomp"-ing ground are likely to find this version fresh. Some routines have been touted as reworkings for the tour, including a visually and sonically amusing bit involving giant inner tubes worn around performers' waists on bungee cords. And the trademark utilizations of cans and barrels for drumming seem fired up with extra energy. A few trims would increase the tautness of the show, but the variety of numbers is certainly impressive.

There couldn't have been much more kinetic force from the eight determinedly dressed-down performers who took the Hippodrome stage on Tuesday night (the 12 members of the cast rotate on the tour). They demonstrated the effortless mastery of timing expected from "Stomp," as well as a knack for spontaneity, especially when some young kids in the audience reacted vociferously.

Although all the participants carried essentially equal weight in terms of physicality, two moved into something approaching the spotlight. Maryland-born Justin Myles served as a point man for the show, bringing a wry charm to the opening and closing solos, and initiating clapping responses from the house. Guy Mandozzi made the most of the main funny-guy role, which seems to have been inspired by Huntz Hall's blissfully naive character in the old Bowery Boys movies.

In addition to a mass of large, often unlikely sound-inducing materials onstage (the set suggests the pile-up of debris from an explosion that simultaneously claimed a down-market second-hand store and an industrial factory), the performers brought out any number of items that served their compulsion to tap, tear, snap, scratch and whomp. Coughs and snorts revealed rhythmic properties as well.

Especially effective were sequences for janitor-style brooms (the kind with rectangularly arranged bristles), which ranged from jazzy tap to hectic hockey; a subtle eye-and-ear tickle with flip lighters; and inspired uses of newspapers, plastic bags, a cup with a straw through its lid, and, for a few seconds, even a banana peel. There didn't seem to be a slip all evening.