In its second year at the Fringe,
Although the show is still very rough around the edges, performances from AJ King and Robin Kendall really stand out and the cast as a whole have a fantastic feel for the comic touch.
The first number begins energetically but the pace remains slow and the performances are of variable quality. Although the show progresses with little musical variety, the show maintains an enjoyable easy-watching feel. Particular credit must be given to Jonah Trenouth as the keyboard player whose music isn’t wildly exciting, but still entertaining and confident throughout. The main disappointment of The Improv Musical is its failure to stick to the audience suggestions. After five minutes only the chosen setting seems to remain a feature of the performance and I do wish a little more was done to maintain the illusion of a fully suggestion-based show. A number of easy opportunities are missed to really involve the audience and even at the most basic level, little is done to find the humour in having Madonna and Nigel Farage as characters. In the second half the audience suggest reggae as the musical genre, but the songs which follow are almost indistinguishable in tone from earlier numbers.
While the show has little directorial flair and the story lacks progression, The Improv Musical still succeeds in being a fun and charming hour of comedy. Although the show is still very rough around the edges, performances from AJ King and Robin Kendall really stand out and the cast as a whole have a fantastic feel for the comic touch.
As a whole piece, too little has been done to lift the show above that am-dram feel. However, the impressive potential of this group cannot be underestimated.
