There is a live show The Trail to Oregon! based on the game, and it’s a somewhat interactive/improv musical comedy where the audience gets to pick the character’s names, and which family member dies of dysentery. This is replicated on YouTube with multiple finale videos.
NOTE: very adult NSFW language and humor.
Speaking of funny theater concepts
This reminds me of the Point Break stage parody, Point Break Live! An audience member is selected to play the Keanu Reeve character. They read their lines off cue cards the cast holds up for them, in order to elicit a wooden performance.
I heard about that and it sounded brilliant.
I was sad that I missed a production of Putnam County Spelling Bee locally where they put four people from the audience into the show as contestants who get cut before the main cast does. (Not that I would do that!) I think the spellers who aren’t the first one cut actually get pulled into song with choreography.
Also I don’t know if Twenty Sided Tavern is still touring but it looks super fun:
Obligatory mention of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged), which covers all the bard’s plays in 90 minutes:
Less audience participation than the above mentions, but there’s one funny bit where a random audience member workshops how to perform Ophelia’s scream in Hamlet using “the method.”
I truly love Starkid, but apart from a couple funny moments this is one of their weaker shows… the interactive aspect is cool though!
Since it can’t happen here here you go Blackmore’s Night - Minstrel Hall (Live in Paris 2006) HD
While I sometimes feel a little purple about it, great nonetheless
Agreed it’s an early one, but it’s warmed on me. If I had a small improv group and an audience for it this is the perfect easy show to put on. I love that Joey basically quick-changes into almost every other character who is not the family including their doomed, mutant ox. I also am a big fan of the Son’s interpretive fire-dance during “Your Wagon is on Fire!” and Father’s acid-trip moment where he sees the audience as “watchers with hundreds of eyes”
My favorite is Nerdy Prudes Must Die, but most Starkid shows could use some judicious editing for pacing and length. I bounced off Cinderella’s Castle immediately despite it being solidly performed due to so much tonal whiplash. I’d love to dramaturg that show.
Emily Short also reviewed some of Punchdrunk’s immersive theater shows in the UK; the most well-known/long running was the NYC mounting of Sleep No More which was dance/performance piece based on both M*cbeth and Rebecca where the audience wore plague-doctor masks and chased performers throughout a multi-story hotel of about 100 rooms and environments.
I read other articles about how the set designers had to employ excruciating set detail since the audience was literally crammed in the space. Just like a parser implementation, drawers had to be filled with paperwork and trinkets that the audience might explore and inspect. The “town” set had a candy store with jars of sweets they had to refill since guests were encouraged and expected to sample. I expect if I saw SNM I would totally revert to parser-adventure mode and spend the entire show searching cupboards and set design instead of chasing performers throughout the hotel like I was supposed to…
The other unique thing is the show-loop was repeated three times throughout a performance and audience groups were dispatched in “waves” on different floors via elevator at different scheduled arrival times so the narrative could be experienced non-linearly and everyone would have the opportunity to experience an entire “loop” even though no two viewings were identical and I believe the loop was integrated potentially as a diegetic time-loop/purgatory plot element.
There is also the off-Broadway “immersive” production Masquerade which is ALW’s Phantom of the Opera requiring a dress code and staged in a building with multiple sets and various cast-members flowcharted to make appearances, although this is designed to be completely linear to audience groups of about 60 people whom are moving through about six time-staggered individual performances of the show happening simultaneously throughout the complex that never run into each other. Each group has designated individual Phantom/Christine performers, but smaller roles dip in and out of each performance track repeating scenes with different audiences. One highlight is a dressing room sequence where a each group is split into smaller groups in three separate dressing rooms, and that section of plot is presented out of order with performers visiting each separate dressing room for their section of script/music - the audience sees all three sections, but the order depends which room you’re in.
The timetable-plot model does make for for interesting IF, but it’s usually personal preference whether people enjoy the concept that they can miss important events and would be motivated to replay to see everything or devise a “perfect” run.
IF narratives that involve this sort of “plot happens whether you are there or not” mechanic are:
I organized an interactive performance of Consider the Consequences a couple of years ago. We polled the audience at choice points and four actors performed the described events on the fly. I gave the audience one do-over per character… I don’t know that we used all of them but we definitely did on Helen as the audience picked the shortest story possible for her at first.
Was fun, would recommend as a performance exercise for people who like applying improvisational skills to an established framework.
I wholeheartedly agree. I think NPMD is a must watch and I’m hoping I can get cheap tickets when it comes to the West End in January… But yeah, some struggle with pacing. I’m very intrigued by this new Tomb Quest - hopefully there’s a youtube version made soon…
Tomb Quest looks interesting. The music didn’t hit me when I listened to a bit so I think it’s more “play with music” about a group of college graduates reuniting to complete a gaming campaign they started but never finished after the GM passes away.
One of Starkid’s main goals is to release pro-shots of all their productions on YouTube so nobody misses out. Usually about a year after the production and a period where you can purchase the “digital ticket” (which is a single-cam live recording of a show) and then a rental period of the edited multi-cam pro-shot they are always keen to release for free eventually.
I am glad they’re bringing NPMD to the UK! Will Branner (Max Jaegerman) has been doing watch-along reactions of Starkid productions and other shows with his cast-members he’s on the Great Gatsby tour with on his channel.
They did the revival of Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals in the West End also and I’d love to see that video as well - Will couldn’t make that production so there’s a different Professor Hidgens who is from the UK. But he is booked to appear in the UK Nerdy Prudes production.
I just realized that both Boston and DC ended their runs of the interactive whodunnit Shear Madness which were 2 of the longest running plays in US history. Boston’s apparently closed for lockdown and never resumed while DC’s ended because it was performed at The Kennedy Center