Al Samuels explains why he never sticks to the script

In the highly choreographed world of musical theatre, the raw expression of comic improvisation could either be a welcome change or a messy approach to an otherwise clean-cut art form. Al Samuels sincerely hopes it’s the former. Samuels is a founding member of the Chicago-based improv troupe Baby Wants Candy and co-creator of Sports Action Team, a television comedy about two gaffe-prone sports reporters. An entrepreneur, actor, and MBA graduate, Samuels knows a thing or two about taking the path less travelled. His job is to induce laughter through spontaneity; what does it matter that his sets are bare, costumes nonexistent, and the lyrics, well, done up on the fly?

“I was scared out of my mind the first time I found out our group was going to do improvised musicals,” he says half-jokingly. If improvising an entire play based on pitches from audience members heaves a huge burden of comedic responsibility on an actor, then doing it to music must be all the more difficult.

“In musical improv, you have to follow whatever music the band is improvising and try to come up with a cool and interesting (and hopefully rhyming) song,” says Samuels. When the audience proposes ‘An Arabian Salesman with a Lemon Fetish,’ or ‘Rod Stewart’s Mullet Ate My Gran,’ or better yet ‘Dangerous Cellos in a Tub of Potatoes,’ it’s up to the actors to figure out how to read into those silly titles and produce 60 minutes of punch lines, song and dialogue.

“It’s more fun (and a lot easier) to just trust the skills of the players and the power of improv to create a cohesive show, no matter how wacky,” Samuels says.

The troupe’s next big challenge will be adapting to a Beijing audience when it performs at Block 8 on Feb. 28 and Mar. 1.

“International audiences have been even better than those in the States,” Samuels believes. “We obviously can’t do all the same cultural references … it’s nice to include some references to local things.” But Samuels is confident. “Improv does seem pretty universal—it seems to tap into something basic and primordial in audiences, no matter where they’re from.”

By Kamyar Razavi

What: Chicago Improv All Stars

When: Feb. 28- Feb. 29, 8pm

Where: Block 8

Web: www.greenpix.org