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The set for Improvisjia is nicely made... a large platform upstage with steps descending to the stage level. Red carpet lines the steps, and a fancy curtain is rigged upstage that we'll walk through. Tomaz is big on the kitsch, and true to his promise from the meeting earlier in the week, there is a working fountain onstage. The stage at KUD is very small... those of you who've performed there know it... for those of you who don't, think of a larger version of the Jewelbox at the Rendezvous, but with a proscenium arch. Inexplicably (to me), they have an orchestra pit, which I didn't realize until last week's Cabaret Fantastic. The pit was always covered up during my past visit - the festival in 2003. So there are 4 bandmembers in the pit... the drummer is below the stage, barely visible from the audience and totally out of view from on stage.
[Ana shows off a piece of light-up set dressing; the fountain]
[Ana and Tomaz hanging the light; Maja preps the voteboard backstage; the fountain - it's alive!]
When we arrive, improviser Nejc who is the costumer for the show has pulled costumes and props for us. There is another guy, Mario, who I am told is our stylist. Feels very diva-like to have a stylist working with you on a show. I try on costume pieces and go with a flannel shirt (mallymalcontent would be proud, I wore flannel for both characters) in red, overalls, cowboy-ish boots/shoes, and a floppy leather hat. The look is more hillbilly/heehaw than country. Alenka and I work into character by calling each other "darlin'" a lot. The piece de resistance for our outfits are these ears of corn stuffed in our pockets. They're not props, but these petrified, heavy corn ears. I feel a little stupid but it does help me get into character. I'm not a huge fan of costumes but this is a big part of the show, because the costumes really enhance the genres and the characters. Seeing everyone try on various costumes is really fun. I take lots of pictures. To visually see the genres come together gets me excited for the show, though I am a bit nervous. We do a brief warmup. Drazen, who has seemed a bit disaffected in regards to the show all week, seems to be getting into it. Maja is basically being the stage manager, which bums me out because I wont get to perform with her. She said the show is usually really stressful for Tomaz, who is one of the two hosts, so she wanted to focus just on making sure it all goes smoothly.
[Nejc consults with Jus; Maja's makeshift costume for her scene change; the pic Drazen said "don't show David"]
Tomaz and Ursa open the show, their characters are two past winners of the contest. They open the show with a song, then some witty banter. Ursa's character is a play on words on Donald Trump's new wife, Melania Knauss. Ursa is "Melania Kauss" which means "Melania Fuck." It gets a really big laugh. The first song is Drazen and Sonja, as sort of a 60's duet. Drazen is all earnest looking and Sonja is kind of schoolmarm. Their song goes well, good response. Some dudes are heckling during the opening and the first song, that gets me nervous again. I figure I can handle heckling, but I'm not prepared to smack down a heckler in another language. Luckily, they're dealt with and they leave before I go on (the 4th song).
All of the bands have funny made up names. Like Marburg, the sendup of Laibach that I mentioned before. The name that Maja comes up with for the country act is "McBeans," which I really like. And we look the part, too. In the afternoon, while Drazen and I were at lunch, we had some discussions via cell phone with Maja about what to call the Grunge band. After a few proposed titles, Maja suggested "Lost Dog" which I then modified to "Dog Found." Drazen likes it, that's what we go with.
Grunge was really big here. While it may seem like it was just a concession to me (being a seattle-ite), I think they do Grunge every year in this show. Every stranger I meet that asks me where I'm from ends up saying "Wow... seattle. Nirvana!" Or "Seattle... grunge! Yeah!" Part of it is also, I think, that the last full concert by Nirvana was in Ljubljana. There was one more live show, in Rome, but Kurt collapsed during it and they didn't finish. I learned all this from Slovenians. Maja went to that concert... she was 13 or something, and her mom took her. She said she cried when she heard of Cobain's suicide. She also wanted to know what explanations or theories are still out there about his death, which is simply something I haven't even thought about for years (maybe since it happened).
McBeans gets the suggestion of "something" soup. I can't remember the word as I type this, but it meant the district where we were. I think it was "Trnovo." Like saying "Fremont soup." Our song goes pretty well. We get very into character, and hop around, slapping our knees and dosey-do ing during the song. It goes over very well with the crowd. I'm relieved. I remember ending the song with a big "Dober tek, y'all!" (Dober tek is the slovene "bon appetit"). The other songs all seem to go well. Marburg is hilarious. A guy named Jus does a song "a la Freddy" which, when I saw on the setlist, I thought was going to be like the Barcelona opening ceremony (Freddie Mercury and that opera singer, because we had talked about that style in the meeting). But I was wrong, it turns out that Freddy is like the Slovenian version of William Hung. Very funny. Ana and Ana-Marija (as "Ghetto Fabulous") do a great R&B number. The Turbofolk song, by "Cici" (Ana-Marija) gets a great response. And as if it weren't funny enough as is, Jus and Drazen back her up by playing this stereotypical (so I'm told) Serbian thing... they are two guys just drawing attention to her, by holding their hands up, gesturing either toward the sky or toward Cici, with this ridiculous look on their faces that say "can you believe how good this is!? Isn't this amazing!?" My description just doesn't do it justice. So if you ask nicely, I'll do my imitation of it for you next time I see you in person (both the style of singing, and the Serbian backup guys).
The grunge song is ok... our suggestion was "pearls." Mostly, we just brought attitude to the piece. I kind of just followed Drazen and Sonja's lead on the song, though I didn't understand what they sang about. At the end of the song, I knocked over my mic stand and then drank from the fountain and spit toward the audience, for full grunge-rocker effect.
As they tally the votes in the audience, we sing a "We are the world" type anthem, about saving the turtles (audience suggestion). Cici wins, and does a reprise of her turbofolk song.