I didn’t want to talk about Katy Perry and the viral videos of her show but I feel now that I have to as it makes a really good point for improv. If you are a Katy Perry Fan then I am sorry and maybe look away now. However, if you do improv then you might want to stay.

The other night, I decided to watch and skim through a recording someone had done of the whole tour show of Katy Perry in Mexico. I personally felt it was off, it didn’t feel connected and a lot of it felt incredibly off balance. After watching this I then went straight into watching Lady Gaga at Cochella. Comparing the two made me realise it is a great example to wake away for improv. Let me explain.

Connection

When you compare Katy Perry to Lady Gaga it is obvious that the Gaga show feels more connected to her dancers and that is why it works so well. With Katy Perry when you watch her show, I personally felt this was not happening, it felt like two different shows – her dancers were doing one thing and she was doing something else.

This is why it is so important to connect as a team. Audiences can see when it isn’t there and a lot of the time it can impact the viewing experience for the audience.

Rehearsals with your team can create the much needed connection and it can really help show the chemistry on the stage

Commit

There have been a lot of clips online of Katy Perry dancing and making little effort in some places that she is doing it. Many people have made mock videos of her on socials as well using songs from SNL to make a point. It doesn’t matter what your opinion is – watch that clip and then watch a clip of Gaga performing a song like Bad Romance – even at the end when she does not sing she keeps in character. With Katy’s show it feels like she it for the first time in that moment.

In improv shows work so much better if you commit to the character you are given to play. It doesn’t matter whether you like it, go big and it will shine through with your audience.

Have A Theme? Own It!

One strong thing that stood out for me was the fact that the theme was really strong in the Lady Gaga show where as with the Katy Perry show it was not as obvious. The reason why Gagas worked more was that she owned the theme she made sure that committed to the theme at hand, with the videos that I have seen of Katy it is really hard at times to understand what is happening.

if you have a theme in your improv show then own it! It will bring it to life on the stage and make the audience commit to the enjoyment.

I don’t mean to be critical of someones performance but when you watch them back to back you will see what I mean in regards to the performance status. it is an interesting case study.

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