I Made You A Mixtape
★★★★★
Five Star Pick
★★★★★ Five Star Pick
I Made You A Mixtape is an absolute joy from start to finish. Set in a 90s college house party as nine friends share a last night together, the show is soundtracked by a slew of American pop-rock hits so baked into the collective consciousness that even the ones you hate you'll love, because nostalgia (and a good house party) is like that. Live drums and guitars layered over the original releases give everything an extra kick, and the dancers - all insanely talented, expressive, and characterful - power the production with charisma and guts.
The show uses a Meisner-inspired structure where the audience picks cue cards at the start of the show to provide prompts throughout, meaning the performers are improvising emotionally in real time. It sounds like a lot to take in, but don't let the mechanics put you off - in practice it’s an effective and fun framework rather than a barrier for the viewer to contend with. Sometimes it means experiencing a moment of visible recalibration as the performers shift gear to meet the mood of a new card, sometimes it means a moment of perfect synergy - like ‘ending an affair’ to Alanis Morissette, or the moment when one dancer spotted her ‘landed the dream role’ card just as Blink-182 sung ‘you'll be at my show’ while she mimed into a mop handle.
There is plenty to chew on if you wish, but this isn't a show you need to overthink either. There are glowsticks, there is beer pong, there is audience participation, and above all there is fantastic, exuberant dancing. There are a few downbeat moments (at least on the night I saw it), but the overall feeling is one of pure exhilaration and the kind of glorious, effervescent girl-bonding that, if we are lucky, lives on in our own mental mixtapes too.
★★★★★
