Musical that goes as you say

A scene from the improvised musical "Every Show's a First Today" / Courtesy of IM Culture

By Kwon Mee-yoo

There is a musical you can only see on the day and is never reprised again.

"Every Show's a First Today," directed by Kim Tae-hyung, is Korea's first-ever improvisational musical by professional actors.

Improvisational theater is relatively unknown in Korea and mostly performed at the amateur level. Director Kim saw improvisational theater at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2014 and thought he could bring the style to Korea.

The musical begins with the troupe "Sink or Swim" getting a phone call from an investor who asks them to create a musical show to be performed the next day. The troupe's director and actors ask the day's audience to come up with ideas to make a musical.

There is a blackboard on the stage and the actors write down what spectators say from their seats _ title of the show, name of the protagonist, where the show begins, a famous line and the investor of the show. The character is developed further as the audience decides the ages, jobs, dreams, strengths and weaknesses of characters to progress the tale.

The protagonist of the day is selected by the director or the audience after each actor appeals their merits for the role. When the protagonist is set, other actors take turns by improvising supporting roles to explain the character and progress the story.

There is a minimum narrative arc that requires a villain and underlings who hinder the protagonist from achieving their dream. The ending lies in the hands of the audience as well.

The director’s role is played by actual directors Kim and Min Jun-ho and they give directions to the actors to prevent the show from going off-topic.

Unlike a play, a musical has songs and it cannot be composed impromptu by actors. For solo numbers, the creative team came up with assigning three to six songs to each actor and the actor can choose one matching the situation from that repertoire. Each song represents a different atmosphere such as happiness, sadness and anger. Sometimes, all of the lyrics are improvised to express the character or the situation.

The group numbers are relatively more fixed with a little freedom to change lyrics to fit circumstances.

Experimenting with the show's infinite possibilities, the musical will employ parodies of characters, titles and famous lines from other musicals and plays until May 5. Audiences can submit names of characters, titles and lines of plays and musicals in advance and the actors will draw for the protagonist a title and punchline of the day.

The show runs through May 14 at Art One Theater in Daehangno, Seoul. Tickets cost 40,000 won. For more information, visit ticket.interpark.com or call 02-541-2929.