Many long-form musicals suffer from a common illness – they get off to a great start, and then lose their way. The audience may still be entertained if the actors maintain wit and good cheer throughout, but no spectator will have that reaction we yearn for – the delighted, giddy sense of having seen a MIRACLE. It’s a tall order, I know. Poor me, I always feel regretful about a performance that doesn’t really “win the game.” Winning means creating a musical that holds together like the real thing, top to bottom. The most expert improvisation of solos, duets, trios and ensemble numbers won’t make a show fly if the songs don’t have good reasons to exist.
The main characters must seem to care very much about their needs and wants. The protagonist must journey toward a goal; the antagonist must present an obstacle – an opposing goal. The improvised musicals that fizzle away as the minutes go by are usually lacking one or both of these, and it is the feelings of these characters that compel the inclusion of excellent, emotionally-driven songs.
In addition, an improvised musical should and probably will contain all sorts of crazy auxiliary action that will prompt many a fun song; however, the spine of the thing has to be comprised of characters that really seem to care about what’s happening, who sing their feelings from the heart. Now we have a game that can be won.
If everyone in a group is already great at making up musical numbers based upon anything, it’s productive to work on the challenge of telling the story, minus performing the songs.
In rehearsal, act out every scene, but when you come to a spot for a song, just sing its first line or two and skip to a “pretend” ending. Then continue improvising the story in its entirety.
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Very apt, Michael, and indeed something with which I and others I’ve seen have struggled. Improvised musicals are in my opinion one of the hardest things to get right in improvised theatre, because you’re balancing not only regular improvisation and musical improvisation, but narrative as well. With Hit and Run, we attempted many different kinds of story structures, and once we found one that worked well, we still had to perform it weekly for several months before we got truly comfortable with it. It’s easy to get swept away into the eddies of gimmick/unemotional songs, but if we’re able to keep emotional focus, the audience loves us for it.