Off Key Improv, one of Vancouver’s only musical improv troupes, tackles a Christmas classic this season with the premiere of Love Musically – a “heart-warming musical tribute” to the star-studded 2003 movie Love Actually.
Inspired by audience stories instead of Hugh Grant’s sexually harassive angst – the show will explore the loves and relationships of the people who show up each night. Meanwhile, building off the popularity of pop culture-themed shows like Hunger Games: The Musical and Star Wars Burlesque – Love Musically will feel like a more modern version of a familiar holiday favourite.
“As a producer, I knew if we were going to a Christmas show it would have to be something audiences could connect with, and I realized Love Actually hasn’t really been done,” says producer Jennifer Pielak. “I love how the plotlines interweave in the movie. We’re not going to be impersonating the characters,” she continues. “We’re going to talk to the audience every night, get inspiration off the people that are there, and then have those stories play out in the show.”
They will also be tossing aside the movie’s outdated ideas of love.
“The movie’s pretty hetero-normative and kind of misogynistic,” says Pielak, pointedly, “so I’m challenging my cast to not be that way. To be more present-day and have the show be more of a reflection of what’s going on in Vancouver.”
Since its inception in 2012, Off Key Improv has been charting a course in Vancouver to bring musical improv to the mainstream. Their debut show, Off Key: An Improvised Musical, used musical theatre tropes to create a one-act musical each night based on an audience-provided title.
It’s a skill Pielak, a trained singer, picked up while studying musical improv at Second City in Chicago.
“That changed my life,” says Pielak. “I got so inspired and was like, ‘I have to bring this to Vancouver.’”
From there, she and musical director Peter Abando formed a group, which debuted its unique shtick last year at rEvolver festival, followed by the New York Musical Improv Festival and the Vancouver International Improv Festival. Love Musically, however, will be their first major show since then.
“A lot of people love to watch this movie at Christmas time and, when I first watched it – a long time ago – I just remember the feeling it left me with: one of, warm fuzzies, love and the honesty of what can happen at Christmas time,” she explains. “Because it’s Christmas and so joyful and happy, people do brave things and say what they mean to say. But it can also be quite sad and melancholy.”
The show description thusly warns to expect wintery-ish tunes, mulled wine and a good laugh or cry.
• Love Musically runs from Dec. 16-20 at Studio 1398 (1398 Cartwright). Tickets are $18; LoveMusically.brownpapertickets.com
