What's the Opposite of Funny?

Finally, a rant I can use in both my blogs.

What does $40 buy you these days? Three super cute v-neck sweater tops from H&M. A night at the Motel 6 near Bradley Internationally airport in CT. A month of my cell phone service and one cheap seat ticket to the absolute, hands down worst “theatrical” experience of my life. I’ve sat through Oedipus Rex three times and this was worse. I saw this play out in the Chicago suburbs called, uhm, “…rooster something or other” that made me uncomfortably embarrassed because it was so bad. I’ve been in shows that sucked; where I’ve actually used my hair as a mask so people couldn’t see my face. But, never in my life, have I ever been made so irate by the complete and utter lack of competence, foresight, and utter disregard for the audiences during a show as I was last Saturday at the I.O. (formerly Improvolympic) 25th (actually 24th) Anniversary show. Months ago I happily doled out $40 to see what should be a historic night for I.O. Alums such as Mike Myers, Andy Richter, Andy Dick, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Tim Meadows, Mo Collins to name a few. Plus, several I.O. celebrities, both individuals and teams were slated to perform. As we took our seats, the program listed the line-up of events which consisted of forms of improvisation originated at I.O. Great, fitting, wonderful. I get excited to see the crane over the audience the sold our crowd buzzing with excitement and the realization that this was such a boon for the Chicago improvisation scene as most of the patrons were not improvisers or actors (as is the case in the Loop of Chicago or the land of touring shows) but they were regular theatre goers from all over the Chicagoland area here to witness a night of funny, funny comedy with some of the funniest folks in the business. and though we were in the back of this ginormous theatre, I was sure that it wouldn’t hamper my experience. I wasn’t even concerned that the zipper on my dress was broke.

It was after 8:00p and the show had yet to start. Fine, typical. However, it was actually 8:30p when the show began. Irritating, as we did have an important going away event to get to. When the hosts did come out (finally) their lapel mics weren’t working. As a veteran of several musicals using body mics, I understand that sort of tech difficulty, but I expect it to be fixed IMMEDIATELY. Bad quickly went to worse as none of the lapel mics and the one handheld mic failed to work. This resulted in the intros by Charna Halpern (co-founder of I.O.), Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch to be repeated 3 times so they could be captured by the camera filming for the DVD. These attempts were futile as anyone passed row 10 on the main floor could only hear every other word. Sort of debacle funny went to unfunny very quickly. Irate patrons yelled from the balcony and actually heckled Andy Richter. Eventually the show was stopped to address the problem. Mars and I left to go to Walgreens to get cash for theatre lobby booze and to get safety pins to fix my zipper. When we returned the show was about to begin again, only this time there were handheld mics on mic stands lining the apron (front) of the stage. I was in disbelief. How the effing hell are these people going to improvise? Improvising with a handheld mic is like doing a play with your script in your hand. Stifling, annoying and utterly distracting. This evening was becoming a bigger rip off by the second. An I.O. house team, The Reckoning did somewhat admirable job is working with the mics, but it was a far cry from ideal circumstances from anyone from a novice to a professional performer.

No one paid to see these people handicapped as they were. They were forced to deny themselves and the audience more than ½ of their comic abilities. Knowing that this show was in such a huge venue, I knew that some of the beautiful nuances that come from facial expression and gestures would be lost, but I figured that I’d hear everything and that the performers were astute with physical comedy that that would make up for the tiny things. In retrospect, the Chicago theatre was probably a lousy choice for improvisation as it is an intimate art form done in typically intimate or small theatre spaces. You have to WORK to be read in a space like that and I don’t think many of these folks gave that much consideration. Furthermore, at I.O. both students and performers are taught to focus on what’s happening onstage, with the group, your partner, group mind, etc. While that does a great service to what goes on onstage and I do not disagree with it by any means, I agree that that is important, kowtowing to that philosophy at the expense of audience alienation is dangerous, rude, selfish, arrogant, and stymies the world of improvisation from being legitimized as an art form, which I think it deserves to be. There was not ONE time in my year of classes that I heard word one about the audience or what the audience brings to the show. And the audiences do bring something to the show; an energy and a life force, without which, performers wouldn’t be performers, they’d be a bunch of people playing pretend in their friends’ basement. Case in point, this was a quote from the Chicago Trib article written by Chris Jones;

Drawn by the caliber of talent on the bill, people had flown in for this show specially, even from as far away as Boston. One patron complained he hadn't heard anything whatsoever from his $75 box seat. A woman who said she had spent $300 on tickets looked near tears. "They had to decide,” she said, with the kind of emotional resonance that people study improv for years to try and achieve, "if they were doing a show for us or for themselves."

Yeah, I was near tears too lady. As we left at intermission (no reason to stay when you can’t hear anything) I was saddened, shocked and disappointed (along with 3500 patrons and all the performers). I know that it couldn’t have been easy to get those comic celebs there at the same time and I would pity any performer celeb or not who finds themselves in this situation. I’m sorry for I.O. because this is a permanent stain on their reputation. Though the blame for the sound debacle has been placed on the hired sound company, I simply cannot put all of this on them. Thousands of concerts and plays alike have been put up at this landmark theatre without the headache that was this anniversary show. There were no special demands or complicated sound configurations. As I said before, my college musical theatre experiences playing his 800 seat theatres, dancing, jumping, grinding, and singing all successful, minus the occasional hot mic or broken mic. This in the event of those unforeseen problems had a contingent back up plan and were always communicated to the sound operator and stage manager. Mind boggling, I tell you.

The best that one can hope is that something was learned from this. You cannot plan thoroughly enough for a huge event like this and I.O. may want to take a little time out and consider that if they want their work to be seen and legitimized as theatre is (which is a common complaint on message boards) they better have a little consideration for the folks who can make that happen; Namely, you and me. I for one will be taking a hiatus from I.O. At least until I can be assured that I can see a show there without throwing a beer at the stage.