KCMetropolis.org
Jessie Riggins - 02/28/18
Filling about half of the house in the new Cohen Community Stage at Starlight Theatre, the crowd nervously chatted about the answers they filled out in the lobby. Sitting on all of the tables was a chance to make up a song title to be performed that night. This is where the hilarity of the show Broadway’s Next H!t Musical comes from: audience suggestions. In an improv musical--and yes, that is a thing—not only are comedians telling a story based on audience suggestions, but they are also setting those as lyrics in a night of roll-on-the-floor, “did they really just pull that off?” laughter.
Comedian Marc T. Engberg warmed the crowd up with a short stand-up routine based around the one thing Kansas Citians love most: Kansas City. Jokes about BBQ, St. Louis, and even the big local news story of the naked ATV rider three days before put the audience at ease, and ready for a night of laughter. This show is different every performance, but all based around the same general outline--the audience is at the Tony-esque awards show, aptly called the “Phonies,” and each member of the BNHM troupe will draw a song suggestion from the crowd out of a fishbowl, then tell the story of the musical its from and perform their hit song. Tuesday night’s songs were “Homework on a Friday,” “The KC Zoo Blues,” “Kids Rule!” and “Who Wants to Shave Their Head?”
After all four numbers are performed, the audience gets to vote on the winner by good old fashioned applause. Although the a-little-too-close-to-Lord-of-the-Flies “Kids Rule” was this reviewer’s personal favorite, the winning song was “Who Wants to Shave Their Head?” from the musical The Stylist. The actors quickly gather backstage and then come back to present a full musical of The Stylist. This is truly remarkable!
Filling about half of the house in the new Cohen Community Stage at Starlight Theatre, the crowd nervously chatted about the answers they filled out in the lobby. Sitting on all of the tables was a chance to make up a song title to be performed that night. This is where the hilarity of the show Broadway’s Next H!t Musical comes from: audience suggestions. In an improv musical--and yes, that is a thing--not only are comedians telling a story based on audience suggestions, but they are also setting those as lyrics in a night happen, while emcee Marc T. Engberg was back, reading other suggestions from the fishbowl as “Technical Award Winners” from earlier in the day.
Each actor shined in their individual numbers, with the comedic timing of Rob Schiffmann and Deb Rabbai, co-artistic directors of the show, setting scenes up perfectly. There were too many funny moments to list them all, but favorites of this reviewer were Deb Rabbai’s goat portrayal during Robert Z Grant’s “The KC Zoo Blues,” and Rob Schiffmann’s “Kids Rule!” along with his portrayal of the hair salon customer in the Phony-winning musical, The Stylist.
Broadway’s Next H!t Musical runs now through March 4th, and is a delightful night of laughter, improv, and musical genius.