At the Top of the Village Gate for the last four
months, a superb multi-ethnic improvisational group, Noo Yawk Talk, precedes the evening's stand-up comedy acts with 35 minutes of frequently inspired ensemble work.
If Noo Yawk Talk's comedy-theater lacks the structured formality of the National Improvisational Theater's work, it has a jazzy streetwise edge
that comes from having actors of varying age and ethnicity interact with audience members who can get so carried away that they jump onto the stage and join the
action. Regular Noo Yawk Talk bits involve the improvisation of a foreign movie based on an audience suggestion and its "symphony of emotions, " in which the
audience selects the different feelings group members must express while singing as an ensemble. Since one senses that there is a lot more to Noo Yawk Talk than can
be compressed into 35 minutes, it is good news that the Village Gate has offered the group its own once-a-week evening-length show to be presented next year on either
Thursdays or Sundays. |
