Whose Chorus Line Is It Anyway? is a highly enjoyable and wickedly funny musical extravaganza. Featuring improvised musical theatre troupe Impromptunes, the show consists of unreserved, cheery hijinks. Whose Chorus Line Is It Anyway? begins with the cast staging a rehearsal, which allows the director to interject, and also for behind-the-scenes banter between the cast mates.
As the cast differs every night and the musical title itself depends on audience suggestions, the performance wildly varies. On this night, upon giving the prompt, an audience member shouted ‘The Cat Who Knew Too Much!’ It would be easy to present a parody of Cats from this instance, but the cast playfully created a cat kingdom with diverse song and dance genres ranging from Bollywood to a capella rap. Since the songs were all improvised, the bad rhyming and off-key moments were exceptionally hilarious. From revelations in feline genealogy and unexpected incest, the haphazard storyline was hysterically amusing too. The cast were quick on their feet, such as their raunchy use of the word ‘puss and seamlessly name-dropping the title itself. The musical itself was both outrageous and entertaining.
The incredibly competent cast for the night had the fearlessly chic Hollie James, whose lovely singing voice was a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Roland Lewis, too, was deeply engaging, and produced the best, catchy chorus of the night: ‘We’re tigers, not cats / And that is that’. The tall and pasty-skinned Emmet Nichols bore resemblance to the praying-mantis demeanour of Silicon Valley and Veep actor Zach Woods. Nichols, fortunately, held his weight onstage with the immense amount of talent that surrounded him. Cameron Niell was an absolute delight too as he swooped in and took over Nichols’s role at the last minute, nearly upstaging Nichols himself.
However, the behind-the-scenes moments among the cast mates in between the musical pieces proved to be rather lacklustre. For instance, Morgan Phillips and Jack O’ Riley were thrown into a scene together, and had to “jam some jars”. The forced banter severely stalled the pace of the show, and it was near unbearable to witness such poorly improvised scenes.
Whose Chorus Line Is It Anyway? shines the brightest with its wacky singing and clumsy dancing. Its lineup of talented crooners are fantastic and their musical abilities are superb, but the in-between moments severely halts the high-octane energy of the show. If the performers dwelled less on such feigned moments, Whose Chorus Line Is It Anyway? would be bound to impress.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Whose Chorus Line Is It Anyway?
The Loft, Lithuanian Club
Melbourne Fringe Festival
www.melbournefringe.com.au
29 September – 4 October
