The 11 O'clock Number: The Improvised Musical

"Come into my cave."

What makes The 11 O’Clock Number so unique is the way the improvised musical works. At the beginning of the show, the audience provides a title, a location, and a song name. For this performance, we got “The Best Man Cave Ever,” with the song “Come Into My Cave.” Then it's all improvised. The cast creates the entire musical on the fly, building the story, characters, songs, and scenes as they go.

I absolutely loved this show. The vocals were amazing, and there were some seriously impressive dance numbers throughout. Even though the characters were created on the spot, they had great development and felt surprisingly well thought out. The plot was also fantastic. It wasn’t overly simple or predictable, and I loved watching it twist and develop as the show went on. The lighting was perfect and matched each scene beautifully, while the live piano kept up with everything happening onstage. The cast was also incredible at building off each other’s ideas and committing to whatever direction the story took.

If you want something hilariously entertaining, with incredible improvised musical numbers, dancing, and a plot that keeps you guessing, The 11 O’Clock Number is definitely a show to see!

Fans of the absurd, the unhinged, and the just-plain-hilarious should flock to The 11 o'clock Number. This completely improvised musical comes together before your very eyes with just a few suggestions from the audience, and keeps you guessing what's going to happen next.

Saturday afternoon’s audience was treated to a rousing performance of “The Greatest Man Cave Ever": a love letter to male sanctuaries, where tools, Farah Fawcett posters, and beer fridges reign supreme. The incredible cast worked in a malfunctioning army of man-bots, a sensual love scene in a craft room, and a solo by a taxidermied moose. Oh, and they were all backed by a tremendously sharp keyboard player who also improvised the score throughout the show.

You might not get any smarter by watching a show like this, but you sure will appreciate the talent required to pull this thing off. Even I, a seasoned Fringer, had to remind myself at several points that this was all completely made up on the spot. It's shows like this that really raise the improv bar at the Fringe and remind us how lucky we are to have such high calibre talent right here in Edmonton.

Phantom of the Paradise meets Phantom of the Opera.

A The 11 O’Clock Number review, by Andrea Noga (AYTC).

If you’re a lover of improv and musicals, this is the show for you.

The 11 O’Clock Number is a consistent Edmonton theatre show, playing at the Grindstone weekly throughout the year, currently exiled across the street at the FOH PRO Stage for Fringe. Though a new venue, the charm of this improvised musical is the same. They take a title, a location, and a song name at the start of the show and then it is just improv, improv, improv from there. While not offering the polish of a scripted musical, The 11 O’Clock Number makes up for it in energy and raw laughs.

The version of the show I saw was entitled I Didn’t Do It, an opera set murder-mystery. While the improvisers admit at the beginning mystery is a hard genre to improvise, (it ended up being more of a murder musical, and less of a mystery) they try with joyous commitment anyways. Erin Maxwell, one of the improvisers, stood out for her ability to center the improv back in the story. Even great improvisers sometimes struggle to keep on the narrative and avoid excessive tangents, and Maxwell knew how to keep the story moving. Her solo number, “President for a Day”, wouldn’t have been too out of place in a proper musical. However, the real standout was musician Curtis Den Otter. Improvising music throughout to fit into the scenes, Den Otter displayed an impressive talent as a pianist and as a keen listener.

In terms of the musical aspect, while all the performers were clearly gifted singers, some of the vocals were not quite what you would typically hear in a traditional musical. In fairness, it is much harder to improvise harmonies than to improvise jokes. However, even if the performers weren’t always in tune with each other, they were always attuned to each other. If they weren’t actively involved in a scene, they would become background singers, dancer, anything to make it feel more than a real musical. They would listen carefully to each other, which was imperative when they would improvise ensemble musical numbers. Towards the beginning, they would occasionally step on each others toes– metaphorically, meaning to interrupt each other or cut ideas short. However, as the show continued they found their rhythm and allowed all cast members to shine.

If you’re looking for a musical with a beginning, middle, end and a sensical summary– you’re in the wrong spot. The show I saw had Batman and Abraham Lincoln subplots. Absolutely not a traditional musical. However, that’s not what this show is trying to be. It is improv, with lots and lots of time for hilarious bits. And if you get some plot with it, that’s a bonus. You will laugh, and that’s what’s important.

The 11 O’Clock Number plays at the FOH PRO Stage