HITS THE SPOT
As someone who has logged many hours crawling up 10th Avenue in a Megabus, the bright purple-and-white Y2K-esque signage of Yotel has always been intriguing landmark. Since I am not a European tourist, I thought I would never have the opportunity to experience whatever wonders lay beyond its blocky bubble letters and plastic honeycomb siding. However, as of last year, Yotel now has a cabaret performance space, The Green Room 42, which serves as the occasional home of the long-running Off-Broadway musical improv show On the Spot. (Last Sunday’s outing was a fundraiser show for the ACLU.)
Upon entering the lobby, I was greeted immediately by statues of two larger-than-life his-and-hers anthropomorphic deer, whose human heads were complete with thick red-framed glasses and enormous toothy smiles. I was satisfied with my experience already. Despite everything else, The Green Room 42 is a fairly traditional space, with booths, tables, and a full menu (and, in a refreshing change from most other NYC nightclub venues, no food or drink minimum).
On the Spot has a great concept: A handful of Broadway performers each brings in two songs, and a team of improvisers (Chris Catalano, Patrick Reidy, Andrew Del Vecchio, Meg Reilly, Alison Wien) uses them as inspiration for a book for a fake musical — and I’m happy to report it (mostly) worked. The singers — Ryan VanDenBoom from Bandstand and Something Rotten, Kerstin Anderson from the tour of The Sound of Music and currently the alternate for Eliza in My Fair Lady, and Marty Thomas, whose show Like It’s Golden also played at Green Room 42 — chose songs that ran the gamut from Coldplay to Adele to Pasek & Paul.
I was apprehensive when VanDenBoom opened the show with Tenacious D’s “Wonderboy,” which lays out a very clear narrative and characters (the rivalry between faux-superheroes Wonderboy and Young Nastyman), as it seemed like this selection would limit the directions that the improv scenes could go. However, after a slightly rocky start, the improvisers managed to create a cohesive, surprising, and funny show around the eclectic tunes.
The standout performer by a mile was Ms. Anderson, who brought a sweet goofiness and vulnerability to her numbers, as well as a clarion set of vocal cords. Overall, On the Spot is well worth a visit, whether at Yotel (tell the deer statues I sent you) or the Broadway Comedy Club, its normal venue on Monday nights.
previous production photos by Monroe Scott
On the Spot: An Improvised Musical Experience
reviewed Sunday January 6, 2019 at The Green Room 42, 570 Tenth Ave at 42nd St
regular run Mondays at 8 at the Broadway Comedy Club, 318 W 53rd St
for more info, visit On the Spot or @onthespotnyc across all platforms
