Brighton Fringe Review: ACAPROV: THE IMPROVISED A CAPPELLA MUSICAL, Laughing Horse @ The Walrus

“The kids are in charge so this could go completely off the rails and none of it is our fault”

Acaprov: The Improvised A Cappella Musical has quite the interesting concept - a group of performers will put on a fully-improvised musical based on audience suggestions, with the music being, as one might guess from the title, completely a cappella. We are introduced to the show by one of the performers who appears to be the leader of the group, and she encourages us to say hello to our neighbouring audience members, which is quickly escalated by having us declare our love for them. 

Once introductions are out of the way (unfortuantely, there were no introductions of the performers so I am unable to give them full credit), the same performer asks the audience to give suggestions for the location and characters in the musical. There was a mixup on the website that did not differentiate the family and adult versions of the show, so I unexpectedly ended up being at the family version, where the children are encouraged to make suggestions before the adults. Our musical is one based in a hotel in Barbados, with our main characters being named Gerry and K. A group of drunk audience members suggest the title “Miral Hotel” and someone else suggests “Carbbiean Chaos,” so the official title becomes “Caribbean Chaos and Miral” and we are off!

As this is a show that is made for children, there are several times that the performers change the plot to incorporate what children have yelled out during the show. In one particularly cute moment, when one of the performers starts beatboxing, a child yells out “boots and cats,” the scene is transformed into one with one of the characters, K, owning cats that she dresses up in boots, singing as the audience repeats “boots and cats” in the background. There are also a few adult jokes slipped in for the older members of the audience, which is greatly appreciated. 

The major issue with Acaprov is that the performers seem to be in worlds of their own, unable to come together to form a cohesive group - something that is essential in the world of a cappella. There are several times when the performers simply pause, waiting for someone to say something, instead of going off what the other person on stage has just said. Sometimes a few performers will try to start a song from the side of the stage with beatboxing and harmonising, but the performers in character will just ignore them and continue with their dialogue. At several points the plot is completely forgotten, with the setting of the “Podiatry Palace” being changed to the “Chiropractic Palace” for an unknown reason.

From the beginning, it is clear that one of the performers is in charge, and they tend to try to take control throughout the show, at times even going into the scenes and stopping them if they want them to go in a different direction. There appears to be a bit of tension, with one performer in particular challenging the other by purposefully making things difficult, like having them come up with the names of seven cats and remember them for the rest of the show. Unfortunately, a lack of harmonising is also common, though the audience member sitting in front of me had a tendency to sing along and harmonise that ended up contributing to the performance in an uenxpectedly positive way. 

Acaprov: The Improvised A Cappella Musical is a show with an interesting concept but struggles to be cohesive, leading to a disappointing performance. The performers are clearly passionate about what they do, but when it seems that they are all competing against one another to be heard, it leaves little space for a full musical to be formed in under an hour. 

Acaprov: The Improvised A Cappella Musical ran from 2 to 5 May at Laughing Horse @ The Walrus at Brighton Fringe.