Story Published:
Aug 13, 2009 at 4:36 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Aug 13, 2009 at 4:36 PM PDT
Marc Platt, the producer who brought Los Angeles audiences the Broadway hit “Wicked,” brings audiences a delightful and inventive musical experience with “One Night Stand,” where everything — music, lyrics, characters, choreography, plot and dialogue — is improvised.
This is the fourth L.A. run from critically acclaimed improv/musical theater veterans coming straight from selling out at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
These seven young performers, all under 25 years of age, spontaneously create a totally different musical improv show every performance. I enjoyed every minute and it was exciting to experience this creative process happening, literally moment to moment.
One of the cast members asks for a made-up title of a musical that has not been produced. He asks for a location and a made up name of a song. It is magical to watch these six young, multi-talented performers and classical pianist/musical director Andrew Resnick create something out of nothing more than three audience suggestions.
The impressive cast includes Quinn Beswick, Kobi Libii, Josh Margolin, Samantha Martin, Jonah Platt (co-producer, director and performer), and Mollie Taxe. They all have “quick silver” minds and I’d like to bottle their energy.
The title our audience suggested was “Pockets With Holes In Them.” Our song title was “Drama In a Car Wash.” And, the best for last, our location was “The Grand Old Opre in Tennessee.” Turn these three suggestions into a clever musical with a believable plot and a series of plot twists with interesting characters. Sure.
I have seen actors attempting to do this fall flat on their faces. Not so for this motley crew. They seemed to relish and delight in the inane suggestions. The more challenging the better. And, the fun they had in creating our improvised musical was infectious. I found myself laughing so much my sides hurt. I am in awe of their tremendous talent.
I can tell you our story, but the one you see will be just as unique. We have the group opening number at the Grand Ol’ Opry with Little June and her Little Junes singing “Life’s Been Kind For Me.” Marie Curie, an over the hill singer sings “If You Have One Shot At Life Just Live.” The promoter, (Jonah Platt) wants to push his son Ben into being a singing star. Ben wants no part of stardom and just wants to clean up after people. He bursts into “Made For Sweeping.” His dream is to go to Hollywood and clean big houses of the rich and famous. And his mother, Isabella supports him in fulfilling his dream.
Meanwhile, aging singing star Marie Curie sings in her hotel room, “Hit The Road” as her old crotchety manager tells the new maid, Alberta Einstein, how to keep Marie happy. Ben finds himself with two bums who quickly become a gay homeless couple. I could see surprise on their faces as they gave in to the process to create two of the funniest characters in the musical. They sing “Movin Up” to Ben and encourage him to pursue his dreams. Alberta discovers her place in life, her “pea box” is on the stage. She doesn’t belong in hotel rooms cleaning for stars like Marie. She belongs on the stage as a star.
Next is a “girl guy” duet with — you guessed it — Ben and Alberta. She is his perfect girl, and she has his dream job. “Go With Your Gut; Follow Your Dream.” How to get these two together? Hey, we have to get in the Hollywood car wash because it was an audience suggestion. So, Ben gets a job at … the Hollywood Car Wash and brings in the gay, homeless couple. “Hold To Your Values Bennie” becomes a hysterical song.
Ultimately, Alberta gets her chance to be a star, Ben gets to clean for her and gets the girl, and the song title “Drama At The Car Wash” becomes a production number. Ben’s folks come to Hollywood and father and son reconcile their differences. Then dad, the promoter can get Alberta on stage at the Grand Ol’ Opry. “Pow, Pow, Drama At The Car Wash” ends this spontaneous, delightfully witty show. Amazingly, they got all three audience suggestions and created a funny, original improvised musical. All shows will be completely different and audiences will enjoy being part of the creative process.
“One Night Stand” runs through Aug. 22 at the Hudson Theatre Guild, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. For tickets and show times call (323) 960-7779.