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.