BWW Reviews: BROADWAY'S NEXT HIT MUSICAL Should Be Your Next Stop

Des Moines Performing Arts' Temple Comedy Series has done an excellent job of showcasing small comedy and improv troupes this season. Wrapping up the series right now is the improv musical comedy Broadway's Nest Hit Musical running now through May 12th.

It is not easy to review a show that is different every time. Broadway's Next Hit Musical is an improvised musical comedy that is unique every night because the songs are based on song titles suggested by the audience before the show. Four of the songs then serve as inspiration for a song from a musical of the performer's creation. Each of the four performers takes a turn fishing a title out of the bowl and comes up with the storyline and performs the song on the spot. Talk about pressure.

On the evening I attended, the song titles and shows ranged from comments on the unusual spring snowstorm to a futuristic world in which Martians take over Earth. Luckily, the actors are adept enough to take on such peculiar topics. Deb Rabbai opened the night; her song title was "Des Moines Blues." Rabbai, also a co-creator, instantly decided the song Des Moines Blues came from a musical Snow Again, about a Des Moines model whose plane flight to bigger and better things is cancelled because of a freak May snowstorm. Rabbai has quite a set of pipes and was dropping lines that were perfectly timed.

The other performers followed and came up with shows called The Answer is D, None of the Above; Castle on a Cloud; and The Martian Puncher's Lament. After each performer took a turn, the audience voted on which song and show was the biggest success. Snow Again won by a landslide, meaning that all of the actors participated in a fully staged production of the show. And as it turns out, a show about an Iowa model can hinge on the evil ways of a serpent like devil, hilariously played by Rob Schiffman, whose weakness is frigid temperatures.

Bottom line, Broadway's Next Hit Musical is a lot of fun. And as the emcee Greg Triggs pointed out, if you don't enjoy the show there is no one to blame but your fellow audience members. So make up a good song title!

For ticket information visit Des Moines Performing Arts.

Photo courtesy Des Moines Performing Arts.

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