0
Plays
Plays are forms of literature written by playwrights for theatrical performances. These are written with dialogs between characters in a variety of genres – tragedy, historical, satire, comedy or farce. Among the famous plays is William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
2,548 Questions
Why doesn't Elizabeth beg John to sign the confession?
Elizabeth believes that is she begs John to confess, John will confess only to please her. He realizes it's better off to end his life telling the truth, rather than being humiliated by everyone is Salem if he confesses.
Where he from oreginlly Aaliyah's father?
Shot by: Keith Haskel, Georgia Hilton, Kristopher Knight, Nathan Russell, Andrew Flynn Soltys, Charlie Todd, Angel Yau
Photography: Katie Sokoler (Flickr Set), Gene Driskell
Starring: (in order of appearance) Michael Kayne, Corey Johnson, Megan Maes, Kevin R. Free, Amy Heidt, Lauren Adams, John Flynn
Chorus: Ari Scott, Cody Lindquist, Winston Noel, Kerry McGuire, Ashley Harrell, Anthony King, Scott Brown, Mark Sam Rosenthal, Dimon Hunter, Will Storie, Seth Shelden, Kirk Damato, Justin Purnell, Venessa Diaz, Gerard Haitz, Steve Dressler, Jeremy Bent, Todd Simmons, Lindsey Sproul, Lauren Reeves, Milo Finch, Big Rich Armstead, Johnathan Fernandez, Jaime Linn, Evan Greenspoon, Lydia Hensler, Jaime Skinner, Natalie Neckyfarow, Cassandra Taylor
I've been involved with the Gel Conference since speaking there in 2005. Gel is an annual conference exploring good experience in all its forms - in art, business, technology, society, and life. There are always fabulous speakers, and it's always a great time. This year, I asked founder Mark Hurst if he'd be open to Improv Everywhere staging a surprise musical at Gel. He immediately agreed.
Agent Brown working with the cast
The first step was to create the song, and as usual I turned to the wonderfully talented Scott Brown and Anthony King. We brainstormed over lunch and decided a song that parodied social media oversharing would be a great fit for the audience we'd have at the conference.
Rehearsing with the seven principle cast members at the UCB Theatre
Dress rehearsal the day before
We were lucky enough to have access to the venue, The Times Center, the day before the conference to do a dress rehearsal. Producing these musicals typically requires expensive audio and hidden camera equipment, but since this took place in a theatre, the audio equipment was already in place and the conference was already arranged to be filmed. We supplemented the conference cameras with a team of five discreet cameramen in the audience.
The stakes were high for this musical, as we only had one shot. For our past three musicals, we were able to stage them multiple times throughout the day with a new audience each time. We would only have one chance to surprise the conference audience. If an actor forgot a cue or a microphone failed to work, there would be no second chance to fix it.
Agent Free hams it up in rehearsal
We had one final rehearsal at a studio near the conference the day of the mission.
We had a 29-member chorus, and I encouraged them to make fun character choices. We had a priest, a doctor, a construction worker, a bike messenger, and a new mother, among others.
Finally, it was time to make it happen. Agent Hurst introduced Agent Kayne who began to do a fake presentation on a fake new social media service, twirlr.
Agent Johnson interrupts
Agent Maes
Agent Free
Agent Heidt
Audience members laughing
(yes that's the Internet's Matt Haughey and Anil Dash)
Agent Kayne acted like the musical outburst was as much a surprise to him as it was to anyone else, looking on in disbelief. Then he brought the house down when he started singing as well.
For the finale, the actors all joined Agent Kayne on stage as our 29-member chorus suddenly streamed down both of the aisles.
After the song ended, the entire cast filed out of the theatre matter-of-factly, checking their mobile devices.
Agent Fernandez and Agent Finch leaving the theatre
I was especially excited to have Agent Finch from Ghosts of Pasha in the cast. He hilariously dressed like a Best Buy employee with a fake yellow name tag.
After the cast left, Agent Kayne was alone on stage. He announced his time was up and got another round of applause as the audience realized "twirlr" was completely fake.
Mission AccomplishedOTHER RESOURCES:
- Many more photos in higher resolution: Agent Sokoler's Flickr Set
- Our first musical: Food Court Musical
- Our second musical: Grocery Story Musical
- Our third musical: I Love Lunch! The Musical
- Buy the original cast recording of Gutenberg! The Musical, also by Brown & King.
If this is your first time here:
-our over 100 other missions can be seen here: Missions
-sign up for our RSS feed and Newsletter
-Subscribe to our YouTube channel, twitter, and Facebook page.
-We have a book for sale!
- Share this:
- Share
Powered by Facebook Comments
This entry was posted in Missions. Bookmark the permalink.
← Jar Jar Subway Car: Behind The Scenes
The Mute Button →
53 Responses to Gotta Share The MusicalNewer Comments →- Tommy says:
May 9, 2011 at 12:47 am
Great job! I liked these musicals a lot!
Twirlr xD.
- Matt Haughey says:
May 9, 2011 at 12:58 am
Nice one Charlie and the gang!
Being that I was in that room, it was pretty great and there was a good 30 seconds or so before I realized what was going on (and we didn't even find out it was a real IE prank until the end). The video feels like it naturally edits out a lot of the dead "what the hell?" time in the room but we were all kind of astonished (I rolled my eyes and said "ugh" when I saw the name Twirlr come up as it seemed really believable) and then all kind of amused by the song, then when the aisles filled with singers it was a total spectacle.
- Charlie says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:20 am
Thanks Matt! I love that we got a photo of you and Anil. I was bummed I didn't get to hang out with you more at GEL, but most of my GEL was sneaking around behind-the-scenes and rehearsing this.
- Charlie says:
- Jenn says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:05 am
Awesome! Your musical missions are definitely my favourite :)
- @LindseyNagy says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:08 am
Indeed, more IE awesomeness. Way to keep the creative juices flow'n, Charlie! - LSN
- Bruce Witzenburg says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:11 am
Wow - absolutely hilarious as always.
- Bruce Witzenburg says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:21 am
Of course I'm sharing this!
- Charlie says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:25 am
You gotta!
- Charlie says:
- Bruce Witzenburg says:
- Eli says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:12 am
As always, simply wonderful! I really didn't see Agent Kayne as being a part of it! The name "Twirlr" seems totally believable as another product starting with 'tw' entering the market. I really enjoyed the lyrics in the song as well- you made use of a ton of social media sites!
- Daniel says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:14 am
Hey guys, nice surprise musical :D Was the music playing in the theatre or was it added later in editing?
- Charlie says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:21 am
Playing live!
- Charlie says:
- jakudo says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:30 am
Your musicals are every time great but this one was probably the greatest:) I just love that song. You should make some CD of your songs:)
- Katie says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:44 am
Hilarious and oh-so-relevant to today's world. Fantastic!
- Adelaide Flashmob says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:55 am
So good. Love these spontaneous musicals. Well done to everyone involved, looks like you all had a fantastic time.
- Andrew Kennedy says:
May 9, 2011 at 3:17 am
That was excellent! I am very impressed by Agent Kayne's acting, he looked genuinely taken aback and at a loss at the interruption (I even felt embarrassed for him), making it that much better when he joined in. =) Very well executed. =D
- mysaviordied4u2 says:
May 9, 2011 at 5:10 am
Awesome! , but Twirlr?! :) LOL
- Kevin P says:
May 9, 2011 at 4:49 pm
I kind of wanted to hear more about Twirlr. Maybe it's a web site that generates songs by analyzing Twitter?
Someone get on that.
- Kevin P says:
- Nodoka says:
May 9, 2011 at 5:31 am
Great!! But it seems an apple advertisement… xD
- Wayne _ says:
May 9, 2011 at 7:26 am
Woke up at 635a today for work, and after a few bouts with my Monday morning usual routines I was very excited to see an email from you guys about a new mission! Especially a musical
mission - just what I needed today! You guys never fail to give me a lil lift…ty!!!!
- Agent Garrett says:
May 9, 2011 at 7:33 am
Loved it! Thank you!!!
- Mike says:
May 9, 2011 at 7:44 am
Kind of hurt I wasn't invited to this conference, being that I live in NY haha. Maybe next time!
- Matt Haughey says:
May 9, 2011 at 2:17 pm
The conference is open to the public, you just have to sign up and pay.
- Matt Haughey says:
- Red says:
May 9, 2011 at 8:07 am
I first I thought that it was really rude to interrupt a speaker. Then a few seconds into the video, I really thought twirlr was real and it was a tie-in of sorts. Last thing you know, I was almost in tears in laughter. Nice one!
Like most here, I really love your musical improvs! Try doing that at the TED next time :D
- Oscar says:
May 9, 2011 at 8:14 am
Encore!!! Encore!!!! I love these so much!!! XD
- BDB says:
May 9, 2011 at 8:26 am
Love IE's stuff, but I don't really see much going on that's either improv or spontaneous. Clearly, this whole thing was meticulously planned. I like the earlier poster's term of "surprise musical" better. Much more accurate.
- Fountain says:
May 9, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Check the FAQ.
- Fountain says:
- YK says:
May 9, 2011 at 9:24 am
Any chance the soundtrack of this one will be released?
Was Julius Caesar a hero or a villain?
Julius Caesar was a hero because he helped people who needed help. He is also a villain because he killed many people.
I think that Caesar was a great leader. He did not repress the people or slay his political enemies. He helped the people in many of his great
He gave land to the poor in Rome
A play is divided into Acts, then Scenes, then French Scenes, then Beats, then Lines, then Words, then Syllables, then Letters, then Sound(s). (But seriously, it only needs to go down to Beats.)
Was the end of Shakespeare's plays often indicated by a rhyming couplet?
Yes, and also as often as not, the end of scenes is also marked in this way. It gave a good strong line to end the scene with. Sometimes the couplet is followed by a short line. E.g. in Coriolanus the final couplet "Which to this hour bewail the injury/ Yet he shall have a noble memory" is followed by the single word "Assist". In Hamlet, "Take up the bodies; such a sight as this/ Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss." is followed by "Go, bid the soldiers shoot". In most cases, however, the last two lines are a rhyming couplet as they are in King Lear, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Cymbeline, Richard III, King John, and Twelfth Night. Plays which end with epilogues (such as Henry V, Pericles, All's Well that Ends Well, and As You Like It) always end in a couplet, as the epilogues are always in rhyming couplets from beginning to end. Some plays which do not have couplets at the end are The Taming of the Shrew and Love's Labour's Lost.
In jungle book who is saffron?
Saffron is Mowgli's sister a character who only appears in the Jungle Book stage play.
When was Othello first performed?
it was first preformed by the kings men in 1604, but am not sure who it was preformed to.
C.The set designer
Apex : )
Why is Macbeth a Dynamic character?
He changes a lot over the course of the play. That is what makes characters dynamic rather than static. There is a huge difference between the calm, brave warrior in Act 1 and the wreck in Act 5 whose life is "a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing."
How does the argument between Brutus and Cassius end?
Brutus orders Cassius to stap him in the heart but Cassius refuses.
What year was Twelfth Night set?
It isn't set in any particular year. Shakespeare and his audiences didn't care about that kind of thing.
What is Indian Boy's name in misumer night's dream?
in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Titania and Oberon are fighting over an Indian 'changeling' child who is not named. the child's mother was "a votaress" (religious worshiper or follower) of Titania, and they were friends. the child's mother died in childbirth, and for her sake, Titania is raising the boy. (Oberon, the Fairy King, is trying to take the boy away from Titania, and this creates much of the conflict between Titania and Oberon)
I once played Titania in a college production of Midsummer it's a fantastic play!
Where can you view a The Music Man Jr script online?
I dont think there is a way to view it online but keep searching!
Is Caliban the only character in 'The Tempest' to speak in prose?
No, Trinculo and Stephano also speak in prose.
What secretive means does Cassius intend to persuade Brutus he is more noble than Caesar?
that he should try to defeat caeser
Love surfeits not----like a glutton dies Shakespeare?
"Love surfeits not; lust like a glutton dies" is a line from Shakespeare's rarely-read narrative poem Venus and Adonis.
What words describe tom in The Glass Menagerie?
Selfish, dramatic, independent minded, ambitious, realist, unhappy
What is the purpose of the choral ode?
Entertainment and explanation are the purposes of the choral ode.
Specifically, an ode is a poem characterized by complex stanzas and lyrical expression. A choral is sung by a chorus. The chorus in ancient Greek theater functions to entertain the audience and to explain onstage action and offstage events and references.
What does Hamlet mean by the single word No?
If you don't know what the word "no" means, then you must not be an English speaker. Am I kidding? No.
What is the meaning of the word run his course said by Caesar in Act 1 Scene 2 line 4?
The line is "Stand you directly in Antonius' way when he doth run his course" and is said by Caesar to his wife Calpurnia. Antony is one of the men running in the footrace which is traditional on the Lupercal celebrations. The word "course" has the same meaning as in the expressions "race course" or "golf course"; it is the path which the contestants have to follow. To run his course is to run the race along the prescribed path.
