I’ve seen a lot of impro during this Fringe Festival, most of it intended, and it’s not something I normally seek out, because it terrifies the willies out of me. Like going to see the circus, I’m so frightened the performer will fall that it’s hard for me to enjoy the show and admire their skill. It was with some relieved excitement and expectation that I finally went to see Spontaneous Broadway, which has been performing for a few years now. You see, this is the crème dela creme of improvised comedy. These guys were doing it when it was called ‘Theatresports’ and was on the ABC, they know what they are doing.
Sure enough the level of skill in this show was extremely high. Nothing bombed. If our host sensed a sketch was not going to work he quickly ended it and moved the performers on before the audience had a chance to notice. Our host was the excruciatingly talented Russell Fletcher, who should be a house hold name in this country and I can only imagine he isn’t, because he has chosen so. It was a it of a shame that he was not one of the improvisers as such, but he did have a wonderful time being our host and their leader. Oh the power, the power! He showed brilliant directorial discretion and also a rather cruel naughtiness towards the performers here and there, which was lots of fun. The other talented person who could choose to support or have fun with the performers was the piano accompanist John Thorn. The matching of his musical improvisation to the performers singing was astounding at times, more so because he was so good, you didn’t notice he was improvising too.
The show was tightly structured and began before the theatre doors opened. While in line to go in, audience members were given slips of paper to provide a show title, song title and their names to be placed into the Bucket of Dreams that sat on the stage. So be early for this performance, if you want to contribute. The four improvisers the night I was there were Julia Zemiro (Rock Quiz), Genevieve Morris (Comedy Inc.) Ross Daniels (The Midday Show) and Geoff Payne was replaced by Scott Brennen (Skithouse). They got to scrabble around in the Bucket of Dreams in search of impro comedy gold while Russell introduced us to the show. Each performer would pick a slip of paper, improvise a song around it, there would then be an extra group song and then the audience would choose the one we felt would make the best Broadway musical, which the performers would then have to produce. The songs that came out of those slips of paper, made up on the spot were gobsmackingly clever and funny. Our show turned out to be a courtroom drama based upon the song “Heel stuck in the crack” and the performers kept the audience in fits of laughter with fabulous silly songs, crappy costumes, improbable props and daggy dancing. I thoroughly recommend Spontaneous Broadway, for a great night and tummies sore from laughing. Take your mum.
Visit the Fringe Website for booking details.