The Silent Movie, One Reel Productions, at Donny’s Skybox Studio. Silent-film fans and anyone looking for a merry exercise in expert improv will be well served by this enormously engaging, very clever hour of vaudeville complete with title cards, live piano accompaniment, and villains with handlebar mustaches.
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Part love note, part nudge in the ribs, the show (first presented at this year’s Around the Coyote by Chicago Improv Festival producer Jonathan Pitts) takes an easy target for irreverent improv–what with the exaggerated facial expressions, easy emotions, and grand gestures of silent film–and turns it into a delightful romp. Much like its source material, it’s old-fashioned fun with an edge.
But the show belongs to the phenomenal Jonathan Mastro who, along with Mike Tutaj, warms up the crowd with a punny vaudeville routine complete with barker’s hat, black cane, and soft shoe. Mastro also tickles the ivories during each scene, and is right up there with the best of today’s film accompanists.
