'Off The Top!' was supposed to be silly. It was supposed to be disposable, a series of improvised gags that resembled a long segment of 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?'.
And yet, by the time it was over, Jason Kravits was singing a song that changed meaning entirely halfway through, a profound reflection on failure and staying true to oneself.
To get there, the audience filled out chits with entries like 'Words To Live By', 'A Place In The World' and 'The Last Text You Sent Or Received'. Then Jason – newly christened as “the pride of Barmera, Douglas Derwent” turned them into show tunes that he interspersed with the improbable story of his journey from Barmera to Broadway. This was filled with wry reflections and running gags but it was just a framework to introduce the songs.
These were performed with a small jazz combo of piano and drumkit at first, then with double bass from Alanna Dawes when she finished playing at the Cabaret festival's closing gala. She didn’t skip a beat and neither did Jason, ahem, Douglas.
The songs were most entertaining when he didn't dive straight into the punchline but set it up over time and some of the results were surprisingly catchy, like the smooth jazz ballad 'Don't Fear The Storm, Find Someone To Dance In The Rain' or the slightly wilder 'So Damn Hot!', which sat somewhere between post-bop and beat poetry.
Part of the magic was the way Jason treated the inane and the profound with equal gravity, and the audience suggestions were the source of much mirth at times – no more so than when he told the story of a young couple's romance to date. But even when he had less to work with he knew how to find his way to the joke, whether by calling on unexpected styles or additional collaborators. As the audience, we always knew what was coming once he read out the title – that he still made us laugh when he delivered the punchline was a tribute to his skill.
