Chicago-based Fifth House Ensemble today announced the world premiere of Undertale LIVE, a one-of-a-kind concert experience based on Undertale, the acclaimed, groundbreaking 2015 role playing video game. The performance, which will take place at Chicago’s Studebaker Theater (410 S Michigan Ave), 
gives audiences the unique opportunity to vote on the main character’s choices while in-game visuals bring their decisions to life in real time. Undertale LIVE’s world premiere will take place on Saturday, January 11 at 8:00 p.m., with a second performance on Sunday, January 12 at 2:00 p.m. and a tour to follow.
Based on developer and composer Toby Fox’s runaway hit, Undertale LIVE will feature in-game visuals and audience choice along with new arrangements for acoustic dectet, percussion, and electronics by music director Eric Roth with Chris Opperman.
Exploring a secret world of monsters and adventure, Undertale offers the unique option to spare monsters rather than slay them, encouraging players to empathize with those most unlike themselves. Independently developed by Fox, the game’s story and outcome are based entirely on the player’s choices. In faithfulness to the game, Undertale LIVE gives audiences the opportunity to rethink concepts such a conflict, empathy, resolution and a chance to understand those different from themselves, while adding a deeply social element to the traditionally solitary experience of a role-playing video game.
“With this project, 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 experience,” said Dan Visconti, artistic director for Fifth House Ensemble. “Stylistically combining moments of caring with a quirky sense of humor, Undertale LIVE is the perfect match for Fifth House Ensemble’s heart and passion for the greater good.”
A self-taught musician, developer Toby Fox’s score was inspired by classic role-playing games and has been hailed by critics as a key to the game’s success.
“I'm interested to see what people will choose, and to hear the arrangements. For me, part of the charm of classic ‘video game music,’ with its simple-sounding instruments and strong melodies, is that it leaves a space for the listener's imagination,” said Fox. “The simplicity becomes a blank canvas from which people can draw out more complicated or colorful arrangements. The ensemble will be made up of a more eclectic combination of instruments than a typical concert, so I believe it will be a really memorable experience in all respects.”
Undertale LIVE is a co-production of Fifth House Ensemble and AWR Music Productions, in creative partnership with Materia Collective and Fangamer. Tickets to Undertale LIVE are on sale now at www.undertalelive.com.
ABOUT FIFTH HOUSE ENSEMBLE
Praised by the New York Times for its “conviction, authority, and finesse,” the Chicago-based Fifth House Ensemble harnesses the collaborative spirit of chamber music to reach beyond the traditionally-perceived limits of classical music. The ensemble’s artistic, educational, and civic programs engage theater groups, video game designers, corporate innovators, and folk bands to share stories as diverse as the communities it serves.
Performances in previous seasons include those at Texas Performing Arts, LiveConnections (Philadelphia, PA), the MAGFest music and gaming festival (National Harbor, MD), WFMT Impromptu (Chicago, IL), Steppenwolf Theater, the Forma Festival (Moscow), National Sawdust (NYC) and the Miller Theatre (NYC).
In addition to the ensemble’s work on the concert stage, 5HE reaches 17,000 students annually through its arts-integrated programming, and trains emerging artists nationwide as a curriculum design partner for higher education institutions and through its summer festival, Fresh Inc.