Dan's Place

How About a Little Night Musical?
Impro Theatre Presents “SONDHEIM UNSCRIPTED"

Directed by Dan O'Connor and Michele Spears

Los Angeles — Embracing the spirit of one of the most heralded artists in American theater, the actors and master improvisers of Impro Theatre will create full-length, completely improvised musicals in the style of Stephen Sondheim in “Sondheim UnScripted,” premiering 8 p.m. Oct. 15, at Theatre Asylum.
Using just their guts, improvisational wits and audience suggestions, the cast invents a brand new, never-before-seen (and never will be seen again) musical for each performance. The only constant is the thrill, joy and humor that are brought together to bring character, plot and songs to life — all to pay tribute to Sondheim by an expert team of funny and gifted actors whose explorations of great literary figures include Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Jane Austen and Dickens.
Directed by Dan O’Connor and Michele Spears, “Sondheim UnScripted” features Lisa Fredrickson, Brian Jones, Stephen Kearin, Brian Lohmann, Jo McGinley, Dan O’Connor, Edi Patterson and Michele Spears.
Musical directors are James Lent, Ron Schneider and Peter Smith. Nick Massouh, Jim Sabo and Reuben Vernier are lighting improvisers.

This show ran in the fall of 2009

Sondheim UnScripted at the Melbourne Fringe 2008

Directed by Dan O'Connor

Sondheim Unscripted Review

By David Crofts. Festival Hub,

I don’t often start a review by saying you really have to be there, but with Impro Melbourne’s sensational show Sondheim Unscripted, well, you really do.

This is one of the funniest and cleverest improvisational pieces I’ve seen for ages. From the moment the cast step on stage, they are simply brilliant, and very, very funny.

Sondheim UnScripted is a completely improvised musical that pays tribute to one of Broadway's most extraordinary talents. Inspired by Sondheim’s signature style, the actors create a fully fledged stage musical on the spot - complete with dramatic solos, syrupy love duets, comic trios and classic ensemble pieces.

Based entirely on a theme suggested by the audience – which in our case happened to be ‘barbecue fever’ – you could almost hear how fast the actors had to think as they assigned themselves roles and started to tease out what would ultimately become a very unwieldy plot.  In our show a young married couple were hosting a barbecue to impress the wife’s pompous father-in-law, all the while being sabotaged by their slightly unhinged friends. Meanwhile the butcher supplying the meat suddenly developed a deep aversion to slaughter which sent him over the edge, and on a chaotic journey of self-discovery.   For me the best numbers were an extraordinary duet between father and son sheep who narrowly escape the butcher’s knife, a trio of deluded men in a cab on their way to the barbecue to offer themselves as human sacrifice, and a hilarious solo about the horrors of childbirth and raising kids.  Sondheim UnScripted is a co-creation of director Dan O'Connor, who hails from Impro Theatre Los Angeles, and has travelled to Australia to direct the Melbourne production.   Whatever work he has done with the cast in terms of honing their techniques, and their ability to feed off each other, is remarkable. Even if there is some hidden structure underneath the show – perhaps to do with the breakdown or type of songs they aim for each night – these guys are running on pure adrenalin and sheer creative terror, and it shows.  As with all good impro theatre, the joy for the audience is watching how it all unfolds as each performer picks up on the ideas and plot devices of their co-creators, and tries to keep the whole crazy juggernaut moving.   Not to be missed under any circumstances – especially if you don’t like musicals.

Aussietheatre.com