Playwright: Jonald Reyes. At: MCL Chicago, 3110 N. Sheffield Ave. Tickets: 773-610-5930; www.mcl.com; $10. Runs: April 2 and 9
The 2013 documentary Blackfish centered around the story of Tilikum, a bull orca performing at SeaWorld and the death of his trainer Dawn Brancheau. The film brought a great deal of attention to the subject matter and has created change. In March of this year all orca breeding has now been stopped at SeaWorld and live performances will be halted.
MCL, or Music Comedy Live, presents Blackfish the Musical, poking fun at this documentary. This version is set at Sea Universe, where Natalie Carmeal leads the cast as head trainer Cybil Bass and works with a killer whale named CumCum. The show within a show follows the trainers interacting with each other and an inflatable orca. When things go awry, Allison Hamster steps in to fix the bad public-relation situation. Morgan Phillips-Spotts plays her well and takes the situation seriously.
There are jokes about My Pretty Pony, Free Willy and Scientology. Much of the cast has Second City backgrounds; they just need to turn up the camp more as a group. Also, it would help if they turn up the microphones located on the lip of the stage. The band tends to drown out the performers at times.
The orca-costumed usher in front was adorable, giving out programs and encouraging donations.
Upon entering the theater, be sure and dodge poles in the room that can obstruct viewing at the Sheffield space ( By the way, BYOB is also an option. )
Some singers need to practice their scales after hitting a few sour notes and there was some stumbling over lines but, overall, there were several fun bits that worked.
This fish doesn't exactly stink but it could use a little more seasoning in execution.