Review: Open Call, Courtyard Theatre

Camden Fringe

Open Call follows five hopeful performers as they sing for a difficult to please panel of judges (ie. the audience) in an open call audition. The concept is excellent, unique and incredibly enjoyable as the audience anonymously votes after each ‘round’ to vote out one of the performers. There are hilarious moments of audience participation, with members suggesting adjectives, names, jobs, and hobbies of the role being competed for, as well as reading out rejection letters, playing a piano concerto and partaking in the Cell Block Tango. A fun and very amusing way to involve the audience throughout!

Mrin Somani guides the structure of show as both producer and compere, ensuring the audience remains engaged and partake in the democratic proceedings throughout. The cast each display their acting and vocal skills, interacting with each other and the audience hilariously. There are some particular vocal powerhouse solos of iconic musical numbers, as well as group numbers and duets, from shows such as Wicked, Chicago, The Little Mermaid, The Last Five Years, and The Prom. Each performer has a particularly distinctive character, from the recently dumped Mimi that can’t stop crying/ shouting at the audience as if they are her ex-partner, to the over enthusiastic student Lottie, the friendly Sam, the over-confident Audrey, and Annabelle the impressionist.

Mimi, played by Siska Greene, is brilliantly funny throughout, improvising with the audience (and occasionally shouting at them with perfect comedy timing) whilst singing a stunning rendition of ‘Still Hurting’ from The Last Five Years. Noa Shakhar sings a powerful version of ‘Dead Girl Walking’ from Heathers, and Isabelle Tarran’s version of ‘When He Sees Me’ from Waitress is hilarious and vocally excellent! Danielle De-Salid Cross’ rendition of ‘Beyond Your Wildest Dreams’ from The Little Mermaid demonstrates a beautiful Disney singing voice, and Beth McKinnon’s ‘What’s Gonna Happen’ from Tootsie is a comedic masterclass of acting through song.

This cast and crew have created a hilarious and unique show with a brilliant concept. It works excellently as a musical theatre cabaret of both well known and underappreciated songs, and brings a comedic storyline to a great showcase of performances. It can easily be updated and songs changed throughout, making it a versatile production, and because the outcome of each show is different based on audience votes it has the capacity to be performed multiple times and remain unique. It is also particularly impressive that each of the performers have learnt not only multiple songs, as they don’t know whether they will make it through to the next round, but also multiple different duet parts, as the audience decides which performers pair up and which song they sing. It’s a fantastic demonstration of performer flexibility and the ability to swing between roles and parts.

The show could also work brilliantly with original music in the future, however its current format works really well as a musical theatre showcase with an improvised plot. Open Call is a hilarious, uniquely devised show performed by a talented cast!

Produced by Mrin Somani
Musically Directed by Michael Clulow
Stage Managed by Ida Thorp

Open Call has completed its run at Camden Fringe.