Impromptunes: The Completely Improvised Musical

The only problem with reviewing a completely improvised musical is that I can pretty much guarantee that the show you see will be nothing like the one I saw opening night…

Impromptunes consists of six young performers who have both an improvisation and music theatre background, who create a brand new musical on the spot, each performance. On opening night, suggestions for a title came from the audience. The first vaguely tasteful suggestion to come from the audience was "My Mother Drink Drives" and this was heartily embraced and performed with aplomb.

The team at the first performance consisted of pianist improvisor Robert Woods and a cast of six, led by host Emmet Nichols. The cast I saw (it varies) included Sophie Kneebone, Louisa Fitzhardinge, Hollie James, Greg Lavell and Andy Gould, with tech support provided by alternate cast member Amberly Cull.

Musically, "My Mother Drink Drives" threw up surprises, with Robert Woods providing a variety of styles from a jaunty drinking song to haunting ballads and the improvisation was very clever, picking up most loose ends and allowing surprising twists. The cast are all very funny, but work beautifully as a team, yielding appropriately and sharing the limelight.

If I wasn't fully booked for the rest of the week, I would be back every night. This is a fabulous Fringe offering and the 8pm finish time allows you to see another show or grab dinner after the performance. Highly recommend this one.

Impromptunes plays at Lazy Susan's until Jan 23, then moves to Casa Mondo for Jan 24-25.

Kimberley Shaw