PERFORMERS EDITING SITE       Click Here to Edit Contact/Show info       Click Here Return to Main Fest Website

Every night is opening night as these top improvisers compose brand-new comedy musicals from your title suggestions. If you like musicals and you like comedy, then you'll love The Totally Improvised Musical! Nominated Best Variety Show at Leicester Comedy Festival 2024. Complete sell-out Buxton Fringe!

"It’s a fun, carefree, and memorable night out that guarantees hilarity, absurdity, fantastic vocals, and catchy songs that you won’t hear anywhere else." ★★★★½ Frankly My Dear UK

"This Totally Improvised Musical certainly entertained and satisfied its audience and showed every sign of being able to do it again, and again, and again, and…" Graham Jowett, Buxton Fringe Review 2023

"Loved it, as did my husband who isn't a musicals fan like I am! Very highly recommended." Audience Review edfringe.com 2023

"Very funny and playful." Audience Review edfringe.com 2023

The team won Best Alternative Act at the North West Comedy Awards 2022 for their show ComedySportz and now the Totally Improvised Musical is thrilling audiences across the UK, with sell-out shows and rave reviews! Previous musical titles have included Vampires from Hull, The First Primark In Space and My Grandma Is A Parasite! What will your musical be about? Book now to find out...

News and Reviews for this Show

August 19, 2024  Corr Blimey ‘Confessions of a Hotel Cleaner: The Musical‘ is weirdly not the most niche musical title at this year’s Fringe. The Totally Improvised Musical team puts on a brand new show every evening, creating an hour-long musical spectacle from an audience suggestion (come prepared with a suitable title; the chosen one gets a pin). Title acquired (although I would also have liked to see second-place suggestion ‘The Disappointing Bang‘), our players work through everyone’s first thought when considering hotel cleanliness with the vampy opening number ‘Don’t Turn on the Blacklight‘. Other highlights from this mayfly production included ‘I’m a Sexy Man/Oh My God (He’s Ripped)‘ and ‘The Bed of Love‘, as well as ‘The Bed of Love (Reprise)‘ and ‘The Bed of Love (Finale Megamix)‘. Given the nature of the beast, these bangers are now consigned to history. But if you like absurd silliness and musicals, the revolving cast of players is sure to bring the same joy every night. The stars of tonight’s production were Brainne Edge, Sean Mason and Chris Tajner, accompanied by musical director Felix Janeway (a deserved shout-out also went to doorman Joe, playing the vital role of keeping the door closed against the Saturday night crowd at Three Sisters). Janeway on Keys is the show’s offstage guide, listening intently for expositional notes upon which he encourages the performers to elaborate as he starts up a tune. Janeway is responsive and generous with this quick-thinking, moulding and complimenting of the performers’ whims. Edge, Mason and Tajner are a triumphant trio, each getting big laughs and pushing the narrative forward. Edge strikes the perfect balance between off-the-cuff hilarity and actually-quite-well-constucted-given-the-genre songs, leading excellent solo numbers and vocally elevating songs from the side of the stage. If you’ve ever dreamed of seeing your niche interest or fantasy turned into a musical, take your title to the Totally Team. Will all of the lyrics rhyme? Not likely. Will all of the narrative threads be tied up? Don’t hold your breath. Will anyone take Confessions of a Hotel Cleaner: The Musical to the West End? Unfortunately not. Will you have a whale of a time? Undoubtedly, yes. Click Here

April 20, 2024  Frankly My Dear UK TOTALLY IMPROVISED MUSICAL Improv comedy group Comedy Sportz is bringing their monthly comedy show, TOTALLY IMPROVISED MUSICAL, to Waterside Arts. The show is exactly what it sounds like—an improvised musical. The audience and cast turn up, the audience suggests musical titles that they want to see, and Comedy Sportz improvises an entire musical based on the chosen title. They then come back after the interval and do it all again with a new title! This musical starred host Sean Mason, Chris Tavner, Rachel Wareing, John Cooper, Vicki Mitchem, and Ben Hodge. The musicals in question? Colonic Irrigation Superstar and Nursing Home Nightmares. Colonic Irrigation Superstar stars Chris Tavner as the owner of a colonic irrigation clinic that wants nothing more than to run off into the sunset with his colleague, played by Rachel Wareing. How can he achieve this? By having John Cooper’s character perform an illegal colonic irrigation on Charles, the evil dentist (played by Sean Mason), achieve his license, and take over the clinic. Meanwhile, characters played by Vicki Mitchem and Sean Mason have an astounding amount of illegally obtained three-meter-long pipes they need to get rid of and a TikTok account that could answer the clinic’s problems. Standout performances of Colonic Irrigation Superstar come from Tavner, Mason, and Cooper. Tavner’s improv is quick, hilarious, and wonderfully eccentric. He and Mason play off each other expertly, particularly in Mason’s performance of Charles the evil dentist’s song Mind Games. With their combined physical comedy and Mason’s surreal, bizarre, and hysterical vocal performance of Mind Games, they create one of the best musical numbers of the evening. Another excellent physical comedy performer is Cooper, who gave another standout number in the form of the love ballad, I Know My Own Mind. His characterisation and storytelling offered a sympathetic note to an otherwise fantastically ridiculous storyline. How the cast can put together a story and songs on the spot that is equally hysterical and harmonious is outstanding and makes for an ideal Friday night watch. Combined with the quick, upbeat, and clever musical accompaniment of the musicians, who the evening wouldn’t be complete without, Totally Improvised Musical is a masterclass of improvised entertainment. And the fact that the audience, cast, and musicians have no idea where it’s going only adds to the charm. After the interval, we’re treated to the hilarious Nursing Home Nightmares. Starring Tavner as the manager of a disillusioned and debt-ridden nursing home, Wareing as a confused and crass resident, Mason as a retired war hero, Mitchem as fearful and forceful resident Hyacintha (who also goes by Rosemary), and introducing Ben Hodge as the optimistic activities coordinator. Wareing and Mitchem gave standout performances of Nursing Home Nightmares, creating absurd and recognisable characters. Their performance of Is This Death? is the highlight of the musical, featuring two pensioners experiencing virtual reality for the first time, including dinosaurs and a black void. Wareing and Mitchem’s use of physical comedy and command of the scenes help drive the piece forward even when it lost its way. They are an unstoppable force, and Wareing’s ingenious inclusion of absurd backing dance moves to some of the other musical numbers ensures that every moment is fulfilled to the utmost. The best bit of Nursing Home Nightmares is all of the cast callbacks to Ben Hodge’s reference to the Falklands being on the nursing home’s history quiz and his obvious lack of knowledge about it. With repeated references to the “advanced age” of those who remember the Falklands and putting Hodge on the spot to sing about events that happened in the sixties, this is the joke that keeps on giving and really frames the performance. The cast’s ability to laugh at themselves, to use a running joke for all its worth, and to bring an improvised piece full circle is outstanding and showcases improv comedy at its finest. Totally Improvised Musical is performed monthly, and venues can be found on Comedy Sportz’ website. It’s a fun, carefree, and memorable night out that guarantees hilarity, absurdity, fantastic vocals, and catchy songs that you won’t hear anywhere else. They also offer workshops and short courses on improv comedy and their award-winning competitive comedy show, ComedySportz, which takes place at Waterside Arts every month. TOTALLY IMPROVISED MUSICAL was performed at Sale Waterside Arts on 19 April 2024 Click Here

Press & Media downloads for this Show

Comment on this Show

 Website Design & Development by Craig Shaynak and Alex Petty