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Bill Chott's Playhouse Improv |
Fridays Through October 2008
Reviewed by Chris Gibson
I'm a fan of improvisation, and I'm well aware that at any given moment, magic or disaster can occur. That's part of the charm of the form, because even disasters can be mined for comic gold. My experience watching Bill's Chott's Playhouse Improv will probably be completely different from yours. Even the structure that Chott and his fellow partners in crime followed may vary, depending on what works and what doesn't work on any given evening. I think Chott's show is well worth checking out for a giggle or two. It's family friendly in tone, there's a lot of painless audience participation, and who among us couldn't use a good laugh these days.
Following a brief warm-up designed to get the audience's blood flowing, Chott, on the still standing set from Parenting 101, got down to business with “Half-Life”, where three actors improvise a scene and then repeat it in shorter and shorter versions, even taking it backwards. After this amusing start Chott introduced us to the rest of his all male troupe with a round of “Freeze”. After the suggestion of a Hungarian commune as the location, a musical centered around this subject, but open to stylistic interjections from the audience, began. “Rant” brought up members of the audience to add to the cacophony produced by each person going off on a rant on whatever subject they're given. A vocalization exercise that came next was very similar in design. To close the first half of the show, a girl from the audience provided the group with the story of a memorable day in her life. They then re-enacted the piece, but in Shakespearean fashion.
After the break, Chott introduced “Chain Murder Mystery, which involves a number of people trying to convey the elements of a murder plot without the use of words. Of course, with each successive attempt, the ideas get more and more convoluted. “Karaoke Kamikaze Death Match” was next, and this found audience members and improvisers competing in a song lyric contest. The object is to only say one word of the lyric. It sounds easy, but after it goes on a while it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain that pace, and actually produce a real word. The show closed with a musical, with the oddly suggested title of “The John That Was Nowhere”.
Chott and his fellow comics are, for the most part, very good at what they do. But, it's not easy to make everything up on the spot, and sometimes the strain shows. I certainly give them all high marks for the energy and sweat I saw expended in their effort to entertain. There were definitely moments of high hilarity to be found.
Chott's talented troupe includes: Doug Golden, David Imler, John Stumpf, Michael Fitzgerald, Steven Vance and the “Lyle Waggoner” of the group, George Malich. They're all backed by musician Darrell Barber, who has to be commended for his quick thinking as well.
Bill Chott's Playhouse Improv continues Friday nights at 7:30pm and 9:30pm at Westport Plaza through October (2008). For more information go online to www.theimprovtrick.com.
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