The long awaited Part III… the biggest lesson for me, which starts with a memory, and morphs into a good reminder:

6./7. Music is your friend/Why your tech should be an improviser

I remember one of the neatest moments from my time studying in Chicago was seeing a Harold show at i.o. in which one of the scenes took place at a school dance. A couple socially awkward teens were talking with one another, and at a lull in the conversation, the man cocked his head and said, “This is a great song.” The woman did the same and said, “Yeah, I love Journey.”

What happened next is impossible without planning ahead (which I’m certain didn’t happen), yet it happened anyway. A seeming split second after the word “Journey” came out of her mouth, the anthem “Don’t Stop Believing” piped through the sound system in the theater.  I’m positive there had to be some sort of lag time, but in my memory, it was instant, and I’m going to go ahead and go with my memory, because it’s somehow more romantic that way.

As the song played, the wallflower broke out of her shell, and did a two-minute improvised dance, using the entire stage. The tech did some really amazing dimming, runs, and flashing of the lights to help highlight this woman’s dance, and though two minutes might seem like a long time to spend during a scene, it was absolutely compelling. The combination of the music, lights, and commitment of the actress held me mesmerized. And I wasn’t the only one. The entire crowd was transfixed, and erupted into applause at the end.

After the show ended, I went over to talk to the tech (who happened to be one of my former improv teachers) to find out about what had happened.  Evidently, the ability to catalog and quickly find pieces of music was a new deal, and this had been the first practical use of that system. My former teacher was just as thrilled as everyone else. Had this been anyone else in the booth, this fantastic moment might have been missed, but it was an improviser at the top of his game that also possessed great technical skill and fabulous listening. He heard the call, added to the scene, and faded back into the background when it was time.

It still gives me shivers.  Too bad I’d forgotten about it.

Until (flash forward to the present) I went to see the show at the Playground. During their improvised dress rehearsal for a sketch show, Bella used (what I assume was) an iTunes playlist set on random to have opening music for each “sketch.” Most of the time this music was pretty well throwaway… to my judgment, the scene wasn’t really influenced by the music choice… with one notable exception.

The lights barely came up, with some 70s disco song playing. It doesn’t matter which one… so many of them are interchangeable. (That’s right, a little music criticism thrown in for free.) A woman fresh out of the shower stepped out and struck a pose (she was wearing a towel on her head… this group used random props that had been strewn across the stage.). After a few moments, a man went behind her, and started tracing the outline of her body in the air with his hands, so that all you could see were the woman, and a pair of hands caressing the air all around her - it was really a mix of sensual and funny… she had very little idea what was happening, as she kept her pose. When this played out, the man grabbed a random prop from the stage (a power strip), and started to dance with it just a little. Then he started to outline her body with the power strip, disco playing all the while, helping set the pace. Temptation was too much, and the guy decided he’d sensually plug the strip in to the nearest available “outlet.” The woman shrieked something about, “He clipped my hood,” and called for the tech to stop the music, which he did… and the scene unfolded from there.

I can’t believe it’s been a year since I’ve opened the Roving Imp, and I’ve yet to use the brilliant medium of music in a show. There’s so much potential there for helping to set the mood of a scene, and bring out some physicality in actors. I’ve only seen something like this done twice on stage, and both times it has left a really big impression. I’ve been working on a format that can use music (format may be too strong a word… it’s really just modified from formats that everyone uses), and I think I’ve arrived at something that will work. We’re going to workshop it the next couple weeks, and use it in the Spring Feelgood show on May 3. It may not be as mindblowing as the examples from Chicago… then again… why not?