Skip to main content

‘Never Before Musical’ // Ho Hum

 Ho Hum brought their A-Game back to this year’s Brisbane Improv Festival, hosted at Big Fork Theatre in Fortitude Valley. After a fantastic 2021 production, the critically acclaimed ‘Never Before Musical’ returned for its second year.

Improv is the art of creating art from scratch with no prior preparation; television examples include shows such as ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ and ‘Thank God You’re Here.’ Improvisation is one of the hardest exercises for actors to execute well, and Ho Hum came up with scenes, musical and dance numbers.

The group’s hilarious signature show, ‘Ho Hum Musical Improv’, has been presented around Brisbane for the last few years. Audience members were welcomed to shout out themes for a potential musical that this improv troupe was to perform. On this occasion, the intriguing theme of “ReGrowth” was selected by the audience. This began an hour of hilarity, love and fantastic improvisation.

‘ReGrowth the Musical’ followed the story of Candy, a hair model, who joined the industry in 1983 with a dream of earning $2,000. The villain of the piece is determined to make “actors with hair” to replace those like Candy. Interwoven through this superb piece of improv was love between villains, a sandwich-making artist, an agent who was sick of the industry and beautiful metaphors. After all, the best “ReGrowth” is love!

Improv is such an ensemble sport with every actor playing a part to move the story along. Mandy Plumb played our Candy, the aspiring Pantene model. Plumb was instrumental in this story and brought fire and punch to the production. Anne Pensalfini was the hard-hitting talent agent. Pensalfini was nuanced and a perfect juxtaposition to Plumb. Pensalfini was grounded throughout their performance and clearly has many years of stage experience. Adam O’Sullivan was the villainous tech mogul and was a star of comedy in this production. O’Sullivan broke the fourth wall many times, drawing the audience further into the production. Ollie Windsor was utterly hilarious as O’Sullivan’s henchperson. Windsor played up the part of the lady henchman who falls in love with the villain (think Plankton & Karen from Spongebob!). Windsor was witty and sassy, which worked ingeniously for the production. Glenn Seaby and Brad Daniels played the sandwich shop owner and friend. Seaby and Daniels played off each other fantastically; the audience could see the fear in their eyes when they started to list their favorite things from 1983. It wasn’t an easy task but both actors pulled it off superbly.

Mark Grimes as accompanist and musical director was a fantastic player who brought ‘ReGrowth’ to life, perfectly underscoring the musical. Like the cast, this accompanist also had to improvise their piano playing to ensure the story flowed. Grimes created music that intricately fit in the story and helped our actors to develop their characters.

Overall, ‘Never Before Musical’ presented by Ho Hum was a fantastic night out filled with fun, hilarity and “ReGrowth”. This is an improv company to watch out for with talented cast and creatives who are a force to be reckoned with!

Original Article

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Article: The Empire Young Artist showcase original production

The Empire’s youngest artists have kicked off rehearsals for their original production, Our Egg Named Larry to be performed from July 12-13. Now in its 14th year, the audition-based elite performance program IMPACT sees a Junior Ensemble cast of eight aged 13-14, dive into the funny, heartwarming and at times ridiculous story of a group of students who are assigned to a project to keep a fragile egg named Larry in one piece. An original theatre piece, Our Egg named Larry was written by The Empire Youth Arts Lead Grace Sankey and co-writer Sheldon Mcloughlin, with ensemble members to contribute to the script writing process, drawing on discoveries they make about their own characters as rehearsals continue. “This year’s Junior Ensemble has a mixture of experience levels with some members who have done this program before and some who will be going on stage for the very first time,” Miss Sankey said. “I am so grateful to be in the rehearsal room with these amazing young people, creating ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Hair - Gold Coast Little Theatre

 Written by Mark Rickell   “Back in the late 1960s, the artists of off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway had been complaining that the professional theatre was dead, and even worse, that it was boring. Hair was the revolution they had been waiting for. With very little plot, a unit set, plenty of four-letter words, explicit sexual content, rituals, drugs, lyrics that didn’t rhyme, music that didn’t follow the rules, and the sound of genuine rock and roll on the Broadway stage for the first time, this musical knocked Broadway on its collective ass.” - Scott Miller, Rebels with Applause: Broadway's Ground-Breaking Musicals   Gold Coast Little Theatre has faithfully continued the tradition of knocking theatre on its ass. With themes and topics that remain just as relevant today as they did in 1967 at the show’s original release, GCLT has absolutely smashed this Broadway classic. At a time when theatres across South East Queensland seem to be falling back o...
2 comments
Read more

Review: Scenes From a Yellow Perril - The Reaction Theory & Queensland Theatre Door 3

Written by Grace Wilson The best kind of theatre is theatre that makes people question, reflect and consider how uncomfortable questions encourage people to act and change. There are not many theatre pieces out there that can make an audience consider whether to laugh or cringe, smile or grimace. However, The Reaction Theory’s ‘Scenes From a Yellow Peril’, as a part of Queensland Theatre’s Door 3 program, masterfully manipulates the uncomfortable with the comedic, the angry with the heartfelt, and asks the audience if uncomfortable questions are worth the discoveries that come with them. ‘Scenes From A Yellow Peril’ by Chinese-New Zealand writer and poet, Nathan Joe, can truly be described as poetry on stage, a turbulent experience of communication and heightened emotions. The audience is exposed to complexities and challenges of BIPOC communities across the world in a way that does not fit the traditional theatre mould. There is no way to predict what Joe writes next; each scene chops...
Post a Comment
Read more