Charm Scene: Improvised Musicals

A new voice on the mic?? As we start in on our "Summer Slowdown" - here's a special BONUS episode featuring our incredible drummer Chris Ditton! We talk Chris's start in Chicago's music improv scene, his inspirations and techniques, and more in our first ever "CHAT Scene!" No musical this week, but we'll be back next Tuesday and every second Tuesday from there on with brand new made-up musicals fr...

AHHHHH WE MADE IT TO FIFTY EPISODES!!! Thank you so much for following along :) We're halfway to a hundred in this week's episode of Charm Scene! We welcome back our original charming guest - Amber Linde (Baby Wants Candy, Phony Award Winning Musical, Anarchy) - for the pod's golden 50th episode. What do scientific studies, dynamic dancing, and a timid Transylvanian have in common? Listen now to f...

Teen Jesus? Baseball camp? Why not BOTH? We've got charming guest Megan Ramsey (Gums, Duluth, Evangelikids) on a mission to teach you the ways of the lord, and the perfect curveball. Double play disciples, sinless step dads, and the original home run hero himself - Jesus Christ. It's a grand slam in this week's fully improvised Charm Scene. Play ball! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Megan Ramse...

We're taking you to the Netherlands in this week's episode of Charm Scene! Boom Chicago performer and charming guest Louie Cordon shares a story from his time in Amsterdam that leads us to a fully improvised musical full of busy beaches, robbers with rizz, and the ultimate park party. Luister nu! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Louie Cordon Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Foll...

Time to hit the road, deer listeners, as we welcome charming guest Dave Lyzenga for another fully improvised musical! A rambunctious road trip, a burly bartender, and a catastrophic conclusion await you on this week's Charm Scene. Follow your dreams! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Dave Lyzenga Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on Instagram, TikTok, and...

We're breaking into the backrooms in this week's fully improvised musical! Charming guest Jonathan Allsop takes us on a liminal journey through flickering fluorescents, ethereal elevators and haunted hallways. Get lost in this week's Charm Scene! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Jonathan Allsop Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on Instagram, TikTok, and Y...

Disco will never die as charming guest Mo Phillips-Spotts RETURNS, following her incredibly successful, lost to time first episode recorded just minutes before. Sashaying salesmen, dangerous dances, and tremendous technical difficulties on this week's Charm Scene! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Mo Phillips-Spotts Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on Ins...

Are you ready for a revolution? Charming guest Jessica Joy is back again - this time for a less miserable (and very french) fully improvised musical! Murderous monarchs, frying frogs, accidental accents, and more! Don't lose your head! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Jessica Joy Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, or shoo...

Calling all pranksters! Charming guest Mike Gospel returns for a spongebob-heavy, fully improvised office musical! Collective costumes, serious supervisors, and goofy goobers galore. Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? We do! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Mike Gospel Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, or shoot us a...

It's our first ever CHICAGO LIVE SHOW! Take the jump with us as we take on the Annoyance Theatre with another fully improvised musical - and a surprise? Confused comas, purchased Portugals, grumbling grannies, and more on this week's Charm Scene! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Special thanks to Sam MacNerland, Christian Pitsch, Kathryn Courtney,...

Welcome to the world wide web! Brandon Michael Thomas RETURNS for a net-spanning adventure through cyberspace. Digital denizens, bashful "bugs," flirty feet pics and more on this week's fully improvised Charm Scene! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Brandon Michael Thomas Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on Instagram and YouTube, or shoot us a message at...

It's our 40TH EPISODE! We're blowing the roof off this one-room schoolhouse in this week's Charm Scene! Charming guest Kaitlyn Nibbelin joins us for a coming-of-age story like none other. Selfish students, troublesome tree-people, handsome haberdsashers, and more! Who are you taking to the dance? Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Kaitlyn Nibbelin Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton...

It's TIME for another Charm Scene! This week, charming guest Bryan Duff takes us on a race against the clock in this time jumping fully improvised musical, with scintilating cyberpunks, brotherly bachelors, notable Newtons and more! The clock is ticking! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Bryan Duff Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on Instagram and YouTube...

It's our 4/20 spectacular, and we're just DYING for you to hear it. Keenan Camp returns, with snacks in tow, for a high flying, afterlife-spanning, fully improvised musical. Bestest buds, dope dances, troublesome trips, and more! Smoke 'em if you've got 'em for this week's Charm Scene! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Keenan Camp Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @Charm...

Donut touch that dial! Daryn Robinson RETURNS in this fully baked improvised musical! And that's muffin to joke about. Foxy fritters, leading long johns, berefect bagels, and more! It's a bearclaw of an episode on this week's Charm Scene! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Daryn Robinson Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on Instagram and YouTube, or shoot u...

It's our APRIL FOOLS switch-em-up spectacular! We tied Sam to a microphone and brought in LEGENDARY Chicago Music Director - Lisa McQueen! Filled with precocious pigeons, adversarial ad-men, infantile improvisers, and more - we're headed back to an extremely accurate 1960s Chicago in this week's Charm Scene! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Sam Scheidler Music Director: Lisa McQueen Drums: Chris...

Yo ho! Yo ho! It's a pirate's life for charming guest Devan Seaman in this week's fully improvised musical! Inspired by her time in pirate dinner theatre, join us as we enter a pirate restaurant inside a pirate ride inside a pirate themed amusment park. Batten down those betas, guzzle that grog, and prepare to be piratized in this episode of Charm Scene! Dead dolphins tell no tales! Cast: Lily Lud...

Things are HEATING UP! Charming guest Jono Mammel RETURNS, this time taking us all the way back to early human history in this fully improvised musical - complete with ferocious fires, time travelers in training, smoldering sweethearts, and more! Welcome to the stone age! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Jono Mammel Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on In...

The doctor is IN. Join charming guest Liz McCreight in our sexiest improvised musical yet. Hot healers, infectious friendships, rambling reporters, and more! Can this doctor heal his patients, and more importantly... himself? Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Liz McCreight Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on Instagram and YouTube, or shoot us a message at...

Are you single and looking to mingle? Amiss and looking to kiss? Look no further than this week's fullly improvised musical! Charming guest Christian Torres takes us to a pop-up dating game, complete with bachelorettes, bodies of water, and the Bechdel Test. Find your special someone in this week's Charm Scene! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Christian Torres Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums...

We're "hanging on by a thread" in this week's fully improvised musical - with charming guest Derek Demko! Jealous Jacks, preoccupied parents, dirty dodos, and more. It's a jungle out there in this week's Charm Scene! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Derek Demko Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on Instagram and YouTube, or shoot us a message at CharmScene...

It's time to impress your mom as charming guest Natalie Younger takes us back to our collective theatre-kid childhoods in this week's fully improvised musical! Captivating cousins, impractical plays, juicy jugs, and more! It's time for the show! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Natalie Younger Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on Instagram and YouTube, or...

Brush up for this week's fully improsived TOOTH-sical as we welcome charming guest Deshawn Mason! Killer cavities, bumbling bicuspids, wisdom-toothed wizards, and more! It's all smiles on this week's Charm Scene! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Deshawn Mason Music Director: Sam Scheidler Drums: Chris Ditton Follow us @CharmScenePod on Instagram and YouTube, or shoot us a message at CharmScenePo...

Our FIRST LIVE SHOW! We took to the cobbled streets of Williamsburg, Virginia for the second annual Last Word Comedy Festival for our first in-person fully improvised musical - inspired by audience member Kate's real life college story. Break-in baddies, burgeoning board gamers, basketted balls, and more in this week's Charm Scene!   Special thanks to the city of Williamsburg for sponsoring the ev...

Escape the stacks. Burn the books. Trail the Oregon. Charming guest Ben Hebert (host of the phenomenal podcast - "Bite-Sized") takes us to a public library in this week's fully improvised musical. But can his thirst for a life outside sway the legacy librarian, the sad sixth grader, or the mad mean Mr. Murray? It's a monoscene spectacular in this week's Charm Scene! Cast: Lily Ludwig, Austin Packa...