In ‘Mad Libs Live!’ you fill in the blanks
Silly musical with a straight face at Red Branch Theatre
Your words are their command in “Mad Libs Live!,” an improv-oriented musical comedy at Red Branch Theatre Company.
That’s because the audience gets to supply many of the words the characters must sing.
Sporting a premise that’s almost too silly for words, “Mad Libs Live!” involves a four-member singing group that’s part of a “Teen Superstar” competition at Blankville Central High School.
These teen characters have been in such a rush that they have not finished writing the lyrics to their original songs, and so they appeal to the audience — that means you — to help fill in the blanks. Cards are distributed to the audience requesting that it recommend nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
The cards are tossed into buckets on stage corresponding to those parts of speech and then the characters draw cards at random from each bucket while performing the incomplete songs.
No two performances of “Mad Libs Live!” are alike, with the only constant being that surreal sentences are destined to be sung aloud. The reviewed performance fell on St. Patrick’s Day and the audience therefore was advised beforehand to write down holiday-appropriate words. The resulting songs had enough references to shamrocks, pots of gold and corned beef and cabbage to make the show seem like Irish Teen Idol.
Although the pleasant musical score by Jeff Thomson remains the same, the book and lyrics by Robin Rothstein are so casual that all the audience suggestions are readily incorporated.
So, what’s the word on this intermissionfree, 65-minute show? It’s such a slender, kid-friendly entertainment that it’s probably best to giggle at the weird word combinations and not expect much more.
The deliberately generic scripting features an insecure all-around nerd, Merrily (Meghan Anderson); a popular girl who is as arrogant as her hair is blond, Virtuosa (Kara Leonard); a science nerd, Geyser (Brady Stevens); and a star athlete, Gogo (Dumar Valencia).
It really helps that the young actors playing these roles have plenty of enthusiasm.
Although the bland dialogue does not exactly give them much psychological depth, they bring enough emotional warmth to make the stereotypes resemble actual human beings. That sincerity ex- tends to their lively singing, and perhaps most impressive is that they’re able to sing ridiculous lyrics with a straight face.
Especially high marks go to the actors portraying the two nerd characters.
Stevens conveys sensitivity with scientific precision in songs including “Friends 4Ever,” and Anderson is heartwarming as she conveys an insecure character developing self-confidence in songs including “Fearless.”
“Mad Libs Live!” basically tracks this vocal quartet’s progress through the talent program, complete with a judge’s numerical scores being held up for individual songs.
One reason this musical comedy is so short and slight is that the other competing groups only exist as scattered references and cameo appearances. There is a rock guitar-playing guy named Dylan (Brandon Shaw McKnight), for instance, who belongs to an otherwise unseen competing group. Dylan and Gogo also are competing for an unseen girlfriend. From a creative standpoint, the Dylan character should be either expanded or dumped from “Mad Libs Live!”
More amusing is the authoritative voiceover provided by Ryan Seablank (Andy Clemence), which gives a convincing sense of how seriously such talent contests take themselves.
The Red Branch production overseen by stage director Janelle Broderick and music director Tiffany Underwood Holmes relies upon suitably minimal staging and fast pacing.
An occasional problem, though, is the loudly amplified music tends to ride on top of the singing. As audience members, we want to hear all the words that we contributed!
“Mad Libs Live!” runs through April 8 at Red Branch Theatre Company, 9130-I Red Branch Road in Columbia. Tickets are $30 in advance; $24 for students, seniors and active-duty military with valid ID in advance; $35 for all at the door. Call 410-997-9352 or go to redbranchtheatrecompany.com.
That’s because the audience gets to supply many of the words the characters must sing.
Sporting a premise that’s almost too silly for words, “Mad Libs Live!” involves a four-member singing group that’s part of a “Teen Superstar” competition at Blankville Central High School.
These teen characters have been in such a rush that they have not finished writing the lyrics to their original songs, and so they appeal to the audience — that means you — to help fill in the blanks. Cards are distributed to the audience requesting that it recommend nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.
The cards are tossed into buckets on stage corresponding to those parts of speech and then the characters draw cards at random from each bucket while performing the incomplete songs.
No two performances of “Mad Libs Live!” are alike, with the only constant being that surreal sentences are destined to be sung aloud. The reviewed performance fell on St. Patrick’s Day and the audience therefore was advised beforehand to write down holiday-appropriate words. The resulting songs had enough references to shamrocks, pots of gold and corned beef and cabbage to make the show seem like Irish Teen Idol.
Although the pleasant musical score by Jeff Thomson remains the same, the book and lyrics by Robin Rothstein are so casual that all the audience suggestions are readily incorporated.
So, what’s the word on this intermissionfree, 65-minute show? It’s such a slender, kid-friendly entertainment that it’s probably best to giggle at the weird word combinations and not expect much more.
The deliberately generic scripting features an insecure all-around nerd, Merrily (Meghan Anderson); a popular girl who is as arrogant as her hair is blond, Virtuosa (Kara Leonard); a science nerd, Geyser (Brady Stevens); and a star athlete, Gogo (Dumar Valencia).
It really helps that the young actors playing these roles have plenty of enthusiasm.
Although the bland dialogue does not exactly give them much psychological depth, they bring enough emotional warmth to make the stereotypes resemble actual human beings. That sincerity ex- tends to their lively singing, and perhaps most impressive is that they’re able to sing ridiculous lyrics with a straight face.
Especially high marks go to the actors portraying the two nerd characters.
Stevens conveys sensitivity with scientific precision in songs including “Friends 4Ever,” and Anderson is heartwarming as she conveys an insecure character developing self-confidence in songs including “Fearless.”
“Mad Libs Live!” basically tracks this vocal quartet’s progress through the talent program, complete with a judge’s numerical scores being held up for individual songs.
One reason this musical comedy is so short and slight is that the other competing groups only exist as scattered references and cameo appearances. There is a rock guitar-playing guy named Dylan (Brandon Shaw McKnight), for instance, who belongs to an otherwise unseen competing group. Dylan and Gogo also are competing for an unseen girlfriend. From a creative standpoint, the Dylan character should be either expanded or dumped from “Mad Libs Live!”
More amusing is the authoritative voiceover provided by Ryan Seablank (Andy Clemence), which gives a convincing sense of how seriously such talent contests take themselves.
The Red Branch production overseen by stage director Janelle Broderick and music director Tiffany Underwood Holmes relies upon suitably minimal staging and fast pacing.
An occasional problem, though, is the loudly amplified music tends to ride on top of the singing. As audience members, we want to hear all the words that we contributed!
“Mad Libs Live!” runs through April 8 at Red Branch Theatre Company, 9130-I Red Branch Road in Columbia. Tickets are $30 in advance; $24 for students, seniors and active-duty military with valid ID in advance; $35 for all at the door. Call 410-997-9352 or go to redbranchtheatrecompany.com.
PREVIOUS ARTICLE
