click to enlarge Courtesy of Empire Theatre
Straight from the Broadway stage,
Freestyle Love Supreme is a hip-hop-style musical created by theater director Thomas Kail, actor and improv instructor Anthony Veneziale and Broadway superstar Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The winner of a special 2020 Tony Award, the interactive musical takes audiences on what is described as a "freestyle, hip-hop, improvisational comedy ride."
The idea for the musical came to Miranda while he was making his musical
In the Heights. During breaks, the cast would spend some of their time rapping and beatboxing.
Now that idea has become its own stage production in which entertainers engage with audience members to give them suggestions for rap themes.
For those who want to know more about the musical, a 2020 Hulu documentary called
We Are Freestyle Love Supreme directed by Andrew Fried (
Val) offers an inside look. The group also created its own TV series now available on Prime Video and YouTube.
"The thing about the show is that it's totally different every night," Miranda told Jimmy Fallon on
The Tonight Show in 2019. "You give us a verb, and then 80 minutes later, you have an entire hip-hop musical show."
$30-$70, 7 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday May 18-22, Charline McCombs Empire Theatre, 226 N. St. Mary's St., (210) 226-3333, majesticempire.com.
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