On The Scene: Freestyle Love Supreme -- the improv group where the audience is part of the act

It is Broadway's most unpredictable show, Freestyle Love Supreme, the improv group where the audience is part of the act.

News 12 Staff

Nov 24, 2021, 1:01 PM

Updated 1,050 days ago

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It is Broadway's most unpredictable show, Freestyle Love Supreme, the improv group where the audience is part of the act. 
With improv, a word, or a place, can inspire a performance, even right where you stand.
“It's so amazing, stop all that rapping, OK, why because we stuck in the traffic,” says Anthony Veneziale, co-founder of Freestyle Love Supreme.
In 2003, Lin Manuel Miranda and Veneziale started the group.
"To think that we started in a basement, and now that it's a show on Broadway, which is a dream no improvisor thought that they could have,” says Veneziale. “This is not where Improv goes.”
Singer Aneesa Folds says she was doubting her future in musical theatre when a teacher at Freestyle Live Supreme Academy spotted her talent.
“We doing it today,” says Folds. “It's Freestyle Love Supreme, we on Broadway."
She landed a life changing role.
“The thing about Freestyle Love Supreme that has been so beautiful for me is that I'm playing myself, and through this journey, I have learned that I'm enough,” says Folds. “Yeah, I'm still working on that and learning that. "
Folds' teacher was beat boxer, now her castmate, Chris Sullivan.
Each performance is different. The audience calls out words and situations, which the cast turns into a performance on the spot.
Freestyle Love Supreme, which received a special Tony Award this fall, runs at the Booth Theatre through Jan. 2.