pHAMILY THE MUSICAL
pH is proud to welcome you to their improvised one-act musical, pHamily the Musical! pHamily is a show about the dynamics of a family and how relationships with your family members can affect your life. In pHamily we will explore all the nuances that make up any family and we will get your help to do it.
Each show will feature 6 excited performers and one magical musical director on the piano ready to weave whatever magical story you are ready to give us. You will help us name the character, create the character, shape events in their lives, and even give us the styles of songs we will sing. Be ready, because at any moment we could burst into song, or ask you for a suggestion of what happens next in our story. Its like a Choose Your Own Adventure Musical. Singing, dancing and making fun of families, what more do you want?
Sometimes touching, sometimes scary but always funny...pHamily. Everybody's is different.
FRIDAYS • 11PM • $10 • Run Time: 1 Hour • Rated: PG-13
To order tickets by phone call 773-732-5450
REVIEWS
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! pH Productions amps up its long-running improv show, pHamily, by adding melodramatic musical asides and operatic flair. Directed by Mike Descoteaux, who playfully accompanies the performance on keyboard, the ensemble embraces a challenging form in which offstage cast members frequently interrupt scenes for new audience suggestions, which often result in funny bits within bits. The players don't always edit themselves well, but they really connect with the crowd, shamelessly revealing themselves by expressing self-doubt ("I know so much about Belgium," one facetiously lamented after a suggestion) and self-mockery (after flubbing the word rugby another apologized with "I just had a stroke," inducing a slurred rap-video parody). At the performance I saw, Melissa Cathcart's well-tuned weirdness and quick wit set the standard. --Ryan Hubbard
CRITICS PICK! The long-running improvised homage to familial dysfunction has decided to burst into song. The show attempts a cohesive narrative through-line, but falls a little short. Instead, it's more a collection of short musical scenes (thanks to the top-notch musical direction of Mike Descoteaux) that interject audience suggestions throughout. A few artistic liberties, like singing a song from the perspective of a room, add variety and hearty laughs.
It was terrific, so creative, and funny!!! The actors are all very talented, and we would highly recommend the late night show as a great cap to an evening.
This was a really great, high energy show. A lot of audience participation & it kept you wanting more at the end.
As I listened to my friend tell me that we would be seeing an Improv show last weekend, I was hesitant. The pHamily Musical by pH productions at the Stage Left Theater, a BYOB establishment, that was the clincher for us. Our own bottle of scotch and hopefully some laughs. Folks, My face was red. This show was outstanding, from the speedy fingers of the piano player to the even speedier wit and hilarity of the cast. I highly recommend this place for your next social outing or date.
I was recently in Chicago and decided to check out the home theatre of the group pH, whom I saw perform in June 2007 at the Twin Cities Improv Festival. Their first late night show, pHamily the musical, was hilarious. They pick a main character and create an improvised musical about him. The audience decides how each of the other characters know the central one. The audience also suggests musical styles and/or song titles. The highlight of the evening was a lovely duet, "Pigs in a Blanket" sung by the main character (a toll booth worker) and his girlfriend (a moped driver who visits him on the job). The couple looked deeply into each others eyes and voices united, hands intertwined, sang the words "We are pigs in a blanket....we are sausages wrapped up in pancakes..." to the romantic musical strains. Perfectly stunning. And, as a non Chicagoan, I was very pleasantly surprised by the BYOB! There's no place in Minneapolis where I can watch live improve whilst sipping a crisp, fruity Gewurstraminer and munching on Funyuns. Classy...I know.
GO SEE PH!!!!!