Sondheim UnScripted
Wow! Impro Melbourne are a brave lot. To take a single topic from an audience member and turn it into an hour long musical in the style of Stephen Sondheim is a formidable achievement. I’m always clenched with fear when they create a 3 minute song on Whose Line is it Anyway! This was made even more astonishing with the addition of the improvising pianist and lighting operator, both of whom had to keep up with where the performers were going and occasionally take the lead and force the performers in a certain direction.
It was all very impressive. It is hard to review a show that is going to be different every night depending on the theme and also who’s performing that night which can vary a little too. The main thing to know is that these guys put on a seriously entertaining show, they can sing and they can improvise at an extremely high degree. If you are a fan of Sondheim or Broadway musicals, the show is even more hilarious.
The chosen title of tonight’s Broadway style musical was Barbecue Fever! The plot of a couple’s barbecue serving as an attempt at family reconciliation had a fabulously dotty secondary plot at the abattoir which included some Sweeney Todd style lamb slaughtering, a transition to manhood leading to a mission of self destruction and a really cute talking sheep. As you can imagine, not everything came off perfectly, occasionally a performer would block the flow of the plot, but improvising is always a tightrope and overall the rip-roaring performances made for a sensational show. Favourite moments for me included a superb song about the pitfalls of parenthood, an evil plot involving the lead man’s stupid ‘best mate’ and his nasty father in-law and the unexpected appearance of Xavier Micheledes’ sheep. This is Xavier’s 3rd show in the Festival, hope he’s getting some sleep.
Sondheim is a very clever choice for an improvised show such as this. There are no complicated choreographed dances to worry about because Sondheim isn’t interested in dance. A lot of his music is atonal, so who cares if the singing comes in on different keys or the piano doesn’t quite match. Sondheim is very ‘modern’, so no need for rhyme, or traditional song or chord structure, if a singer can’t think of how to end the song, they can just stop, if they’re lucky the lighting operator will come in with a dramatic blackout right on time!
Visit the Fringe Website for booking details.