Banner Photo by Steven Brown
Directed by J. Lindsay Brown & Neil Figuracion
Musical Direction by Hunter James Brown
Cast
Kristen Britt
J. Lindsay Brown
Neil Figuracion
Rachel Katz
Drew McCalmon
Adam Mizner
Blad Moreno
Ramón Muñoz
Claire Parlette
Adina Stuhlman
Helen Zoerhof
Musical Direction by Hunter James Brown
Cast
Kristen Britt
J. Lindsay Brown
Neil Figuracion
Rachel Katz
Drew McCalmon
Adam Mizner
Blad Moreno
Ramón Muñoz
Claire Parlette
Adina Stuhlman
Helen Zoerhof
About the Show
"Spectacle Spectacular! A Fully Improvised Song and Dance Musical" (a collaboration between J. Lindsay Brown Dance and The Glitter Island Gang) first splashed onto the stage in at MCL Chicago in 2014. Each night, the cast creates an entirely original musical, with stories, characters, songs and dances made entirely from scratch! Since that first season, every production feels like a new chance to up the stakes.
When directors J. Lindsay Brown and Neil Figuracion met half a decade ago, a team-up became imminent. Brown comments that though she has worked with improvisation for over a decade, working with Neil has changed how she approaches her teaching and choreography as a whole. “Having to figure out how a musical fits together, and how to create improv structures to support it (not to mention teaching dancers how to use their voices and bodies in a new way) has really freed me. Before this, I was working solely from a post-modern concert dance context. But now I’m able to shift my perspective out of a stuffy post modern world into a much more straightforward theatre world. This frees me up to use recognizable emotions in ways that make previously esoteric things more relatable.”
Meanwhile, The Glitter Island Gang hopes to stretch the borders of what's seen on the improvised musical stage. "The precedent of the improvised narrative musical has been around over a decade," remarks Figuracion, "but the language of dance has been largely ignored. Referring to my own dance improv background, I knew there was a lot of room to grow." After decades of teaching and developing improvisation techniques for swing dancers in his native Los Angeles, Figuracion also wants to raise the bar for what happens on the improv comedy stage. He took inspiration from the dance floors of Southern California when he returned to comedic improvisation, knowing there was much to be learned about movement and dance that was being ignored in his circle. Now, one of his biggest thrills is seeing performers overcome their fears and discover more about themselves.
These two creators got excited about how their disciplines might overlap and synergize. "I want to push dancers beyond their somewhat limited concept of their skills and talents," says Brown. “Playing in the show, year after year, desensitizes you to feeling so panicked when things are unclear, and gives you more confidence in making choices, and teaches you how to really see what is happening on stage around you.” Spectacle also strives to challenge dancers who see the show by exposing them to finding excitement in the unknown, and to enjoy moments of awkwardness. Brown looks forward to not only having fun playing on stage, but also to invite the audience to be a part of the process in the moment. The audience provides the initial inspiration for the entire show, but also provides a feedback loop for the performers and influencing how they develop stories and characters.
Putting JLB Dance and the Glitter Island Gang together meant discovering how two groups with very different vocabularies might interact. Dancers very rarely are tasked with speaking, much less singing. Meanwhile, improvisers are comfortable making up songs on the spot, yet there really isn't any training available regarding dance. "Each season is like a mini-boot camp. Everyone has to learn a bunch of new skills again," jokes Figuracion.
Last year, the production moved to Immanuel Lutheran in Edgewater. The show will be returning there again for another season with new actors, more musicians, and new thrills! The magic of a show like Spectacle Spectacular is watching seasoned artists run into something they do not fully understand to discover the mystery on the other side.
When directors J. Lindsay Brown and Neil Figuracion met half a decade ago, a team-up became imminent. Brown comments that though she has worked with improvisation for over a decade, working with Neil has changed how she approaches her teaching and choreography as a whole. “Having to figure out how a musical fits together, and how to create improv structures to support it (not to mention teaching dancers how to use their voices and bodies in a new way) has really freed me. Before this, I was working solely from a post-modern concert dance context. But now I’m able to shift my perspective out of a stuffy post modern world into a much more straightforward theatre world. This frees me up to use recognizable emotions in ways that make previously esoteric things more relatable.”
Meanwhile, The Glitter Island Gang hopes to stretch the borders of what's seen on the improvised musical stage. "The precedent of the improvised narrative musical has been around over a decade," remarks Figuracion, "but the language of dance has been largely ignored. Referring to my own dance improv background, I knew there was a lot of room to grow." After decades of teaching and developing improvisation techniques for swing dancers in his native Los Angeles, Figuracion also wants to raise the bar for what happens on the improv comedy stage. He took inspiration from the dance floors of Southern California when he returned to comedic improvisation, knowing there was much to be learned about movement and dance that was being ignored in his circle. Now, one of his biggest thrills is seeing performers overcome their fears and discover more about themselves.
These two creators got excited about how their disciplines might overlap and synergize. "I want to push dancers beyond their somewhat limited concept of their skills and talents," says Brown. “Playing in the show, year after year, desensitizes you to feeling so panicked when things are unclear, and gives you more confidence in making choices, and teaches you how to really see what is happening on stage around you.” Spectacle also strives to challenge dancers who see the show by exposing them to finding excitement in the unknown, and to enjoy moments of awkwardness. Brown looks forward to not only having fun playing on stage, but also to invite the audience to be a part of the process in the moment. The audience provides the initial inspiration for the entire show, but also provides a feedback loop for the performers and influencing how they develop stories and characters.
Putting JLB Dance and the Glitter Island Gang together meant discovering how two groups with very different vocabularies might interact. Dancers very rarely are tasked with speaking, much less singing. Meanwhile, improvisers are comfortable making up songs on the spot, yet there really isn't any training available regarding dance. "Each season is like a mini-boot camp. Everyone has to learn a bunch of new skills again," jokes Figuracion.
Last year, the production moved to Immanuel Lutheran in Edgewater. The show will be returning there again for another season with new actors, more musicians, and new thrills! The magic of a show like Spectacle Spectacular is watching seasoned artists run into something they do not fully understand to discover the mystery on the other side.
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