Instant Broadway
Maidment Theatre - Musgrove Studio, Auckland
11/05/2011 - 14/05/2011
Production Details
WHERE EVERY NIGHT IS OPENING NIGHT!
Instant Broadway, NZ’s improvised musical show returns to the 2011 NZ International Comedy Festival for 4 nights, from 11 – 14 May.
Instant Broadway sees the cast take a title for a non‐existent musical suggested from the audience and then for the next hour present an entire musical made up on the spot.
The show that wows audiences and critics alike features the talented Chris Lam Sam on keyboards who improvises all the music throughout the show. The 5‐strong cast, Annie Whitley, Lorraine Breheny, Robyn Donnelly, Mark Scott and Greg Ward perform the best improvised singing and dance numbers you’ll see in New Zealand.
“Instant Broadway offers comedy‐goers a real alternative,” says Wade Jackson, the Covert Theatre’s Artistic Director. “A lot of New Zealand comedy these days centres around a solo stand‐up act, slanted for a particular audience. Instant Broadway has something for everyone, combining music, comedy, dance and theatre.”
This is a show that has to be seen to been believed. It is directed by Greg Ward, a trained opera singer who was asked to auditioned for the Queen Musical We Will Rock You.
Greg is also a member of The Improv Bandits and is very excited to be directing NZ’s only musical improv troupe.
Instant Broadway was born at the Covert Theatre, New Zealand’s only dedicated comedy theatre. The Covert has over 30 company members who workshop and perform weekly and include many professional actors.
Instant Broadway will amaze you as lyrics are plucked from the air combined with the off‐the‐cuff music and fully non‐choreographed dance routines. The next Broadway hit? There’s only one way to find out – be there at the Musgrove Studio and enjoy all that live performance has to offer.
Instant Broadway – where every night is Opening Night!
AUCKLAND
Dates: 11 – 14 May (Wed to Sat), 8.30pm
Venue: Musgrove Studio, Maidment Theatre, 8 Alfred St, CBD
Tickets: $25 / Conc. $22 / Groups 10+ $22
Bookings: Maidment Theatre (09) 308 2383, www.maidment.auckland.ac.nz
Website: www.coverttheatre.com
A clear aptitude for genuinely funny comedy
Review by Craig Wilson 13th May 2011
I can think of few things harder than to make songs up on the spot. When you add the expectation of humour the task seems all the more difficult. However it took no time at all for the audience to warm to the musical mayhem of Covert Entertainment’s Instant Broadway. Infectious laughter soon rippled through the Musgrove Theatre to accompany the spontaneous musical numbers preformed by a five person troupe with the characters and plot developing as we watched.
In improv style the show is kicked off with suggestions from the audience, though that is the extent of the audience participation for the show. Our ad lib show began with an illiterate cave-dwelling Irishman and his romantically attached pig, and both featured strongly throughout the night to amusing effect.
Some fairly disparate scenes at the start of the show where quick to pick up laughs and somewhat slowly came together, mostly through the gentle prodding of Mark Scott and Greg Ward, who stood out with some very strong and hilarious performances.
One that encapsulated their commitment to their craft and comedy involved the larger of the two quite literally perching on the smaller mans arm for an amazing amount of time as he pretended to be an owl. The mix of grit, absurdity and physicality in this move was shear entertainment and a highlight of the show.
The other three actors had their moments and definitely created some very funny situations on stage however at times they seem slightly lost in working out how to mould their funny scene in to a cohesive story.
The musical numbers almost with out fail came off well with varying degrees of singing aptitude on display, yet all above a pass mark. There were however a few moments when I felt some actors were a little unsure of how to introduce a song into their scene but I am confident that as the shows progress they will find their feet more in that department.
Covert Entertainment has a great feel and a clear aptitude for genuinely funny comedy. It was a highly enjoyable show that could only get better and better as the season continues.
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