EdFringe Talk: Lights Up! The Improvised Musical

Posted in *Written Interviews, EdFestivals 2023 by

“There’s no one else in Germany doing what we do, so one of the ways we’ve been moving forward has been by reaching out to our musical improv heroes for guidance.”

WHO: Tina Marie Serra

WHAT: “It’s Lights Up! on this Fringe debut: a completely improvised musical comedy! Unforgettable characters sing, dance, rap, and harmonise their way through action-packed stories in an exuberant joyride that audiences have described as pure magic on stage. It’s a jubilant, electric adventure that’s brand new every night – because it’s made up on the spot from your suggestions! Berlin’s Kaleidoscope is a tour-de-force of musical talent and comedic storytelling that’s making waves and blowing up the genre of improvised musicals. Become part of the show that’s touched hearts and sold out theatres wherever it goes!”

WHERE: theSpace on the Mile – Space 1 (Venue 39) 

WHEN: 20:45 (50 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

Yes, this is our first time at the Edinburgh Fringe–both as performers and punters!

Edinburgh Fringe has long been a goal for all of us individually, but we didn’t think it was an option this year. The company was in its very first weeks when we decided to apply; we had done exactly one show (a musical about land sharks, of all the things), but we sent it to some venues, not thinking we’d hear anything. But theSpace came back to us just a few days later and said they’d love to have us and our collective jaws hit the floor. It didn’t feel real; it still doesn’t. But we said yes and got to work.

We’re really excited to be sharing our show with a new audience! But we’re also really, really excited to spend three weeks in the maelstrom of creativity–seeing our idols live for the first time, supporting our friends’ shows, being inspired by the incredible talent on display, and swapping ideas and stories with friends, both old and new.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2022 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

We’re still a very new company–we’ll only be eleven months old at Fringe! So our whole journey towards the Festival has been filled with so much learning. How do we improvise musical numbers, how do we collectively tell a story, how do we move, how do we begin and end shows, how do we dance/rap/harmonize, how do we communicate those choices to each other, and how do we make it look scripted?

There’s no one else in Germany doing what we do, so one of the ways we’ve been moving forward has been by reaching out to our musical improv heroes for guidance. We’ve talked to Dylan Emery of Showstoppers, Alan Kliffer of Asylum NYC, Hollie Ann James of The Impromptunes, and Scott Passarella from Off Book. They’ve all been incredibly generous with their time, their wisdom, and their encouragement. We feel so lucky that people this phenomenal have been willing to share their experience and advice with us; one day we’ll pay it forward by doing the same for the people coming up behind us.

Tell us about your show.

Happily! We are Kaleidoscope, a musical theater/comedy company based in Berlin, and we perform an improvised, Broadway-style musical called Lights Up!. We start with an audience suggestion of a location and then we’re off on an adventure. Our musical director improvises all the music on his keyboard, and the performers on stage improvise everything else–the lyrics, the melodies, the harmonies, the raps, the dancing, and of course, the stories!

The company came together in September 2022 with the goal of combining the best musical theater and improv talent in Berlin and putting on the type of show that didn’t exist in Germany yet. We all knew we wanted to put on the best improvised musical in town, but I don’t think any of us were prepared for the response we got. We sold out our very first show, and then our second, and then our third, and the venues kept getting bigger but the shows kept selling out. Whatever we were doing was resonating with Berlin audiences in a way we’d never imagined.

I think it’s because everything we do comes from a deep love for both musicals as a genre and improv as an art form; our joy on stage is glaringly apparent and I think there’s nothing more fun for an audience to watch than a performer who is deeply, hopelessly in love with their art.

I also think that audiences keep coming back because we’re not afraid to tackle big problems or go to hard places. I believe all art burns life for fuel, but life is particularly immediate in improv, and you can see it in our shows. Our characters are complicated and flawed, and the issues and heartbreaks they deal with are very real. We put our whole selves into our stories–all of the amazing, beautiful, hard things that make us artists–but we wrap it up in a melodic hook that’ll still be stuck in your head the next morning.

After Edinburgh, we’ll be back in Berlin with a few dates already lined up in other German cities. We’re hoping to tour Germany/continental Europe, get a residency in a London theater, and down the line–a West End run!

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

Oh my goodness, there are SO MANY incredible shows to see if you love what we do!

First, you’ve absolutely got to get your tickets, yesterday, for Showstopper! The Improvised Musical. The stuff they can do will absolutely blow your mind and they’ve been a huge inspiration to us, and we’re so excited to finally see them live (already got our tickets!)

Then of course there’s Baby Wants Candy doing an improvised musical and their spin-off show Shamilton, an improvised hip hop musical about a famous person the audience suggests. They’re the biggest musical improv group to come out of the US and we’ve heard such incredible things that we bought our tickets weeks ago.

More improvised hip hop: it’s MC Hammersmith in Straight Outta Brompton! I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the man behind MC Hammersmith, Will Naameh, a few times in person and he is fiendishly talented and another one we absolutely can’t wait to see live.

We are really excited to see Men With Coconuts and The Totally Improvised Musical–two more shows doing musical improv and we can’t wait to see their takes on this wild art form that we love and share!

For pure improv, we’re really excited for Austentatious doing an improvised Jane Austen novel. I saw them once in Brighton, long before I started doing improv; some of the stuff they did in that show lives rent-free in my brain and I use it to inspire my own improv. I’m also super pumped for St Doctor’s Hospital, they do an improvised medical drama. I saw them perform at the Edinburgh Improv Fest back in March and they were phenomenal.

I met the people behind Spontaneous Potter when I was visiting Edinburgh on holiday, and again at the Edinburgh improv festival, so I can’t wait to see them do an improvised Harry Potter fan fiction. Likewise I’m really looking forward to Absolute Improv, because Paul Connolly, one of the performers behind it, is one of the loveliest (and funniest) humans I’ve ever met. He’s also in Spontaneous Potter!

Outside of improv, we’re going to see Frankenstein from the Berlin Open Theater to support our fellow Berliners (and also our friend Izzy Rousmaniere, who’s in it!) and Serious Nonsense (for Terribly Grown-Up People), by Ben Macpherson, whom I met at the Robin Hood Improv Festival in Nottingham and who is a phenomenal performer.

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