One of the world’s most acclaimed comedy ensembles, Baby Wants Candy has performed more than 3,000 completely improvised musicals for audiences across Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Singapore and Madison! Each performance is powered by audience suggestions, a full band and the troupe’s lightning-fast wit—creating a rollercoaster of spontaneous songs, intricate dance numbers and side-splitting comedy. Each show is a roller-coaster ride of spontaneously choreographed dance numbers, rhyming verses and witty, jaw-dropping comedy. Each performance is the opening and closing night of that performance. BWC has performing casts in Chicago (Apollo Theater), Los Angeles (UCB) and New York (UCB) and tours internationally. The world-renowned improv comedy ensemble Baby Wants Candy returns to Madison with two popular shows, “Baby Wants Candy” and “Shamilton,” at Overture’s second annual Fringe Festival running Saturday, February 28 and Sunday, March 1, 2026.
I had a chance to catchup with the group’s leader, Al Samuels about just what will be going down as Baby Wants Candy gets back to Madison for this year’s Fringe Festival at the Overture Center. We get into how this is the type of show for people who like (or don’t like) musicals, the type of examples they might encounter during the performance, how much the band and the cast like to ‘get’ each other and speaking of the band, just what type of musician gets that gig. There are also workshops the cast will be providing, so we talk about the warming of the heart moments when those who thought they could not, do and all the same types of surprises as being on the stage. Here in Madison there will be two shows of each, the audience suggested title of a musical and ‘Shamilton’ – so that is four unique experiences over a weekend for those who attend. If you think you need a laugh (and I speak from experience) this is definitely a show for you.
