Show: Let’s Make a Musical
Artist: Ryan Hruza (and the audience?)
Venue: KC Young Audiences
Reviewer: Luke Dodge
Author’s Note: I have worked with or know most of the cast.
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This is one of the hardest reviews to write because the show literally doesn’t exist yet.
In a delightfully reckless move, Ryan Hruza stepped in to replace a Fringe cancellation barely a week before opening with a show about… making the show you’re currently watching. “Let’s Make a Musical” hands the audience a seat in the writers’ room, inviting everyone to help build a brand new musical over the course of the festival. The first four performances build it piece by piece before the final show becomes a staged reading of everything those audiences dream up together.
Opening night started with absolutely nothing. Themes, characters, settings, and story ideas emerged as audience members bounced suggestions off one another while musicians and improvisers scrambled to turn that avalanche of ideas into something usable.
Watching a room full of strangers become collaborators was fascinating. One person’s idea sparked three more, and before long an entire room was building a musical together.
Was it the smoothest production? No. The sheer volume of ideas occasionally outran the process, and getting every suggestion into the creative pipeline could use some streamlining.
But this is one of those concepts where ambition becomes part of the score. The harder the routine, the easier it is to forgive a slightly messy landing. When the opening number finally came together, the room shared the same disbelief that something so cohesive had emerged from such wonderful chaos.
Even with its rough edges, “Let’s Make a Musical” feels unlike anything else on the Fringe schedule. More importantly, it feels like a show that will only get stronger as each performance teaches the company something new. It becomes less about watching a finished production than witnessing creativity happen in real time, then leaving eager to see where the next audience takes it.
KC Fringe would like to thank the following sponsors:
Talking to the Box Office...
