UNDERTALE LIVE Preview - Interactive role playing game/concert with visuals premieres at The Studebaker, Chicago
by Debra Davy. January 11, 2020.
Fifth House Ensemble and AWR Music Productions present the world premiere of UNDERTALE LIVE, a unique concert experience, at The Studebaker Theater, 410 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, on Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 8:00 p.m, and on Sunday, January 12, 2020 at 2:00 p.m.
UNDERTALE LIVE is based on Toby Fox’s runaway hit role-playing video game Undertale, accompanied by Fox’s original music arranged and conducted by music director Eric Roth with Chris Opperman, performed by acoustic dectet Fifth House Ensemble including percussion and electronics.
The multimedia concert event transforms Undertale’s one-hundred track soundtrack and choice-driven story into an interactive experience.
The performance will provide audiences the unique opportunity to vote on the main character’s choices while in-game visuals bring their decisions to life in real time. Audience choice will affect the direction of the music as well!
Voters will use their smartphones to vote on how to resolve encounters, either through violent or peaceful means. This follows the original game’s structure where players could choose one of its three routes: neutral, pacifist, or genocide.
In an interview with Fifth House artistic director Dan Visconti on the eve of the premiere, he affirmed that “UNDERTALE LIVE is radically different for the usually passive concertgoer; it’s dynamic and intensively creative! No two performances will ever be exactly the same.”
Commenting on the special attributes of the Undertale game, Visconti noted, “What sets this RPG apart from others is the players have the ability to ‘make good choices’, to empathize with their opponents, to try to effect enriching outcomes for all the characters involved.”
Visconti explained that “UNDERTALE LIVE, in faithfulness to the game, offers audiences the opportunity to rethink such concepts as conflict resolution, empathy for those traditionally considered enemies and respect for other’s differences, things especially important in social relationships. These types of considerations are totally opposite from those provided in the typical solitary experience playing a game in which seeing one’s opponents as sinister and trying to violently destroy them is central.”
He added “With UNDERTALE LIVE we set out to create a wonderful way to bring fans of the game together, while introducing new audiences to it through this uniquely social encounter that combines moments of caring with a quirky sense of humor. The project is a perfect match for Fifth House Ensemble’s heart and passion for utilizing terrific, stimulating music to promote the greater good.”
Finally, Visconti noted, “UNDERTALE LIVE will have secrets of its own! It may be possible to jump timelines, get a better ending, unlock encores of favorite songs- who knows?”