I am very intrigued by this show as the blurb says, “Music can make or break a blockbuster. Let’s see what happens when we devilishly mess with the soundtrack for an hour featuring some of the world’s best visiting improvisers!”

There is a lone keyboard on stage as tech superstar Emma Maguire cuts the lights and starts the show off with the Star Wars intro song (aptly named ‘Star Wars Main Theme’).

After that suspense, the Friends theme song starts playing and director Jamie Burgess walks over to his keyboard, stopping to make sure we all do the well-known clap before he plays us a welcome song. This is his show, he declares, before asking who has seen improv with live music being played on stage as they perform before, and professing that no-one had! (I have in fact, literally 4 days ago in this very room for Ginge and Minge’s Redemption.)

Burgess asks what we had for breakfast, what our favourite instruments are, and what our least favourite instrument is (a resounding “Bagpipes!”) before turning those into a fun little ditty that ends with the crowd singing ‘Amazing Grace’ before turning it into their best bagpipes impersonation.

It’s a very fun start to the show, great audience interaction, and it is clear that Burgess knows what he’s doing.

Now it’s time to introduce the stars of the show, the six improvisers ready to make magic happen: Wiremu Tuhiwai, Maria Williams, Angie Ford, Steven Lyons, Matt Powell and Brendon Bennetts.

They are paired off and the audience is asked to give each pair an interesting relationship. No boring relationships like brother and sister, though, or Burgess will kick you out.

The resulting pairs and their relationships are: Williams as a shopkeeper and Tuhiwai as an elderly robber (not a dominatrix, as suggested, because they have noticed there are children in the audience); Ford as a slumlord and Lyons as their shit tenant; Powell and Bennetts who ask for a relationship where they’ve known each other for a long time and are assigned boy band members.

Every good thing needs a theme song and this is no different. Burgess asks for a theme song title to be used at the end of the show, which must start with “Take my …” “Take my crystal meth!” yells someone who, when asked if they’re familiar with crystal meth says they’re a Wellington High student which gets a, “Yeah, that tracks,” from the improvisers.

People also yell, “Take my breath away”, “Take my socks off” and the winner is, “Take my identity”.

Burgess explains that each duo will create a scene without any soundtrack whatsoever then, when all three are done, they will re-enact the scene with whatever music he feels like giving them. Simple!

Williams is restocking shelves when Tuhiwai’s elderly man played, named Mr Johnson (Mr J), enters – Tuhiwai providing a wonderful door-opening jingle.  They chat about Mr J’s daughter, how the shop is finally doing well, and when no-one’s looking, Mr J pockets some items before leaving to another wonderful jingle. End scene!

Next we see Lyons painting a wall and hammering in a nail before his landlord arrives. Ford opens a rather creaky door, smokes a lot, and then leaves.

Finally we see two older boy band members, one preening himself while the other signs and kisses photos. Powell, whose character name we later discover is Hairspray, confronts Bennetts’ Nick S about how they have to continue on after what happened with Nick G, and that it wasn’t anyone’s fault. They can hear the fans, they must go on, photos must be kissed!

Now it’s time for the music to set the re-enactment scenes!

Mr J enters the shop with Tuhiwai’s trusty jingle and Burgess plays some lovely peaceful music, as the crowd goes “Awwww!” Williams is surprisingly quiet this time round and so Mr J steals his items and leaves. Realising she forgot to say her lines Williams yells, “The shop is doing fine!” and the crowd laughs.

The music takes quite awhile to start in the second scene but when it does, it’s very film noir, gangsta type vibes and so we have more of the smoking slumlord Ford, this time arguing with their shit tenant.

I was wrong for thinking that the boy band music might be fun and poppy, instead we are hit with jarring horror-esque tunes, so the innocent ‘what happened to Nick G’ talk now sounds very much like Powell’s Hairspray may have murdered him.

Now that there is music for all three acts, Burgess plays them on a loop and anyone can be in anyone’s scenes. This starts what I can only describe as character and callback chaos!

Mr J gives the shopkeeper 125 thousand pounds, quickly converting it to 323,000 NZD. Nick G is alive and OMG, he is a SHE! That’s right, to the audience’s surprise the boy band called All Boys has a girl! She is also the slumlord and daughter of Mr J!

Williams is looking for her parents who she’s heard are in All Boys, so cut to 20 years earlier and we find a very pregnant Nick G who doesn’t know if Nick S or Hairspray are the father, and because of this the band is breaking up!

There’s a murder, some well-placed references to things the audience have said, a shocking reveal, a lot of confusing plot twists and family drama – and finally that theme song we’ve all been waiting for, ‘Take my Identity’!

Burgess starts to play an upbeat tune and sings, “Take my identity, take my ID, my high school ID, take my identity” … It’s catchy. He throws back to the Welly High girl who suggested it, and we are all singing and clapping along with Burgess and the cast!

It has been a whirlwind of a show with laughter from everyone throughout.

I would happily watch this format again, maybe without kids present so there could be more adult themes.

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