The large black warehouse-style doors of The Neo-Futurarium swing open, and three men in business suits burst in singing, dancing, running and jumping in a musical number reminiscent of a vaudeville show. Eight frightened-looking contestants shuffle in behind them and sit down on stage as the chaotic circus unfolds around them. CRISIS: A Musical Game Show has begun.
This latest production by The Neo-Futurists is a live interactive musical game show, modeled after classic TV game shows of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. Eight contestants act as employees and try to climb the corporate ladder in three rounds to become the top ‘executive.’ The winner wins up to one-third of the door sales, over $500 in cash if the show sells out. Three percent of the proceeds go to a charity of the winner’s choice.
Divvied up into teams of four, contestants compete in challenges, such as finding marshmallows hidden among the audience or drawing clothes over a picture of their very naked boss.
CRISIS is an almost overwhelming flurry of activity. Between the contestants running around competing, hosts cracking jokes and performing magic tricks and the live band interjecting with little songs and commercial spots promoting local businesses, it’s a wonder the show goes up at all. In fact, John Pierson, the creator of the show and one of the hosts, said the show took little more than six months to create.
“I’ve done a lot of projects, and this has been one of the most overwhelming,” Pierson says. “Knowing that we have to improvise with these audience members … and keep the flow going and interact with the band is a challenge.”
Despite the difficulties, the show went over rather smoothly, and the actors performed like improv pros from Second City. The commercial spots were a definite highlight; paid for by real advertisers, they were creative, smart and nicely woven into the show. The three hosts, Pierson, Daniel Kerr-Hobert and Clifton Frei, sang and danced surprisingly well for men who had never done musical theater before. Kerr-Hobert learned how to tap dance for his role, and Pierson learned how to do magic.
There were some glitches, however, on opening night May 1. The band missed a couple of cues, and some of Pierson’s magic tricks didn’t work (about which he joked on stage). The concept behind the game also needs to be streamlined. The plot of the game was not obvious until well into round two. Hopefully it will tighten up as the shows progress.
The questions and challenges change every night, and there are 27 different versions of the musical numbers; with 18 shows in total, it will be interesting to see what they come up with next.
