Playwright: The Company
At: The Second City
Phone: 312-337-3992; $18-$24
Open run
By Jonathan Abarbanel
The Second City's 93rd revue features six skilled players—all veterans of previous Second City revues—who dazzle with personality and versatility, even when their ensemble-developed material does not. It follows the tried-and-true format of sketch, song and blackout rather than a long-form improvisational format. That's too bad, for current political and social issues cry out for the deeper, more penetrating treatment long form can provide. The standard scattershot approach, with a roughly equal number of hits and misses, seems uninspired given the times and the talented cast.
Act I includes several sketches that hit the mark: one about the tone of voice people read into innocuous e-mails ( performed by Brian Gallavan and Molly Erdman ) , another about an offensively honest job candidate ( Joe Canale ) and a third featuring a trio of Iraqi women decrying American values but with a twist. ( Claudia Michelle Wallace stands out. )
But the highlight is an act-closing musical paean to gay marriage. 'I can marry my 16-year-old mentally retarded third cousin but I can't marry you,' one man says to another. 'I can marry a 98-year-old serial killer who's still in prison but I can't marry you,' one woman laments to another. 'Go to Massachusetts!' they all conclude.
Act II scores political points with a scene about a grandmother who wants to enlist in the Army to replace her grandson in Iraq. They call Donald Rumsfeld a few names, but not nearly as many as he deserves. In an all-too-rare Second City moment, the scene briefly turns serious and earnest, which lends it great power. Meanwhile, George Bush is attacked only in a parody of the song Big Spender that confronts his cheapjack funding of education.
To be sure, there are other moments that are funny, but they are funny without being trenchant: male Islamist terrorists who see everything a woman does as sexual temptation; Oprah Winfrey ( Wallace ) as a DaVinci Code-ish descendant of Jesus with miraculous powers; a semi-scatological and gay tale of George Clooney as related by a devilishly worldly child ( Gallivan ) ; and a physical comedy scene of a couple in the shower together, wonderfully played by Ithamar Enriquez and Maribeth Monroe. Enriquez, promoted to the main stage for this show, is the bright new addition, although he needn't play the Latino card so often. Monroe has fewer opportunities than in previous shows, perhaps because her personality is the strongest of the lot. Also, the musical direction by Ruby Streak ( as ever ) is strong and the cast does well developing musical satire, both original and parody.
But with a powerfully evocative title, and times that cry out for protest, the show feels like a mild dig in the ribs rather than a gut punch.