Improv musical BELT never plays the same show twice
The troupe transforms two audience-suggested words into a full improvised musical complete with live instruments.
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Every show is brand new. That's the premise of BELT, an improv ensemble performing at the Ottawa Fringe Festival this week.
Audience members shout out a place and an adjective, and the cast immediately launches into an opening number they've never performed before and never will again. The musicians — playing piano, guitar, saxophone, and other instruments — make it up on the spot too.
At the performance reviewed for Fringe, the prompt was "lovable" and "Cabot Tower." The cast built a musical about an architect from St. John's, Newfoundland, struggling with self-doubt after their new tower got zero visitors at its opening, only to have a villain trick the mayor into turning it into a Quizno's. Cast members jumped between roles — townspeople, seagulls, turtles — rallying the architect for a grand reopening.
"What I found incredibly impressive was how the cast managed to create a hilarious developing story that kept audience members intrigued," wrote reviewer Audrey Pridham. The performers craft characters and plot lines on the fly, wearing multiple hats both literally and figuratively. Solo ballads, group numbers with catchy choruses, villain anthems — all improvised from a two-word prompt.
The show runs 45 to 60 minutes. Tickets are $14 plus service fees online, at the Fringe box office (67 Nicholas St), or at satellite locations (Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue; La Nouvelle Scène, 333 King Edward Ave). Show passes are also available. BELT plays La Nouvelle Scène Studio A through June 27.