Opera Punks Promises a Multiverse of Musical Madness
Eau Claire native helms improv show that blends music, comedy
As the name implies, the upcoming musical comedy show, Opera Punks – helmed by Eau Claire native Kelly Shuda – may include opera or punk (possibly both). Also, in no particular order, salsa, hip-hop, ’80s pop, country, and speed metal. With maybe a lullaby or some bluegrass.
Oh, and it’s all made up on the spot, as played and sung by Shuda and a multitalented gang of Minneapolis-based comedic improvisers. Imagine an improv show that’s entirely sung or a musical that makes rapid, radical musical and thematic shifts, and you’ve got the right idea.
“The show is chaotic, and it’s fast pasted and every scene is as different as possible from the others scenes. That’s our goal,” explains Shuda, who will create the music on the spot via synthesizer, guitar, and computer.
As a student at Memorial High School, Shuda was bit by the improv and musical bugs, and managed to parlay these twin talents into a career in Chicago. Shuda spent a decade working for the Second City, the legendary comedy troupe, serving as a musical director for main stage shows, the touring company, and even cruise ships. After leaving Second City just before the pandemic began in 2020, Shuda ultimately landed in Minneapolis, where he began dipping his toes back into the comedy scene. Opera Punks was born during an “Improvathon” last fall in Minneapolis’s HUGE Improv Theater.
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The show is chaotic, and it’s fast pasted and every scene is as different as possible from the others scenes. That’s our goal.
KELLY SHUDA
OPERA PUNKS
“It was a big hit,” Shuda recalls. “It was a weird 10am sort of brain foggy place, and everybody was like, ‘What is happening?’ ” The one-off show birthed an eight-week run at HUGE, and now Shuda and company are bringing their multiverse of musical madness on the road.
It’s a creative change of pace after years of the corporate environment at Second City. “Now I”m making choices just based on artistic merit like I was when I was younger,” Shuda says.
The Saturday, May 20, show at the Grand Theatre in Eau Claire will open with stand-up comedy from Eau Claire’s Matt Hasenmueller and some long-form improv from Shuda and Josh Ingersoll.
Shuda knows from experience that not all improvisers can sing and not all singers can improvise: “I think it's easier to focus on musicality with a group of improvisers than teaching a group of opera singers how to improvise.” But melding the two on-stage into a long-form performance is what Shuda is drawn to.
“I feel like when people are singing they’re able to make bigger, more specific initiations,” Shuda says, “and the feelings are always bigger because it’s very hard to be neutral and boring when you’re in a song.”
Whatever happens during the Opera Punks show, it definitely won’t be neutral or boring.
OPERA PUNKS: Musical Improv Multiverse • Saturday, May 20, 7pm • The Grand Theatre, 102 W. Grand Ave., Eau Claire • $20 • volumeonetickets.org
