Charming and Well Organized.
I admit that I haven’t been to my fair share of Second City shows. I’ll also admit that one of the biggest reasons why is because, in general, I have a hard time enjoying sketch comedy. Lastly, I will admit that, to my delighted surprise, this revue was very well received by this lady.
I love the holidays and knowing that I need a bit more variety on this blog, I picked up a couple of tickets to Second City’s Nut-Cracking Holiday Revue to help get into the season. As mentioned above, I had my reservations, but this performance was very entertaining. At the beginning they do inform you that you may see a few sketches that have been performed before, a few classics and a few new holiday sketches. I was surprised when I did recognize sketches I had seen before, since I’ve only been to a handful of shows. Nonetheless, they were still enjoyable the second time around.
The cast was comprised of Neal Dandade, Alex DiGiacinto, Chelsea Devantez, Cate Freedman and Eddie Mujica. Ryan Bernier was the director, Dawn Wilson was the stage manager and Tara Trudel was the music director. Aside from the opening scene beginning in an office which seemed to be snowed in and the following scene that resulted in which a young couple professes their love for one another and the couple next to them seems to be having problems doing so, the rest of the show was filled with sketches I hadn’t seen before. There was a scene where Devantez played a blow up doll- always entertaining. Then there was the fifth grade talent show, where brother and sister duo, Mujica and Devantez, sang a song of how their step brother Fred (Dandade) was a misfit and unwanted and at every punchline Fred would innocently hit a bongo. I really enjoyed this sketch especially when Fred spoke up and unknowingly outperformed the two. Right on mark. A sketch about cold Chicago winters, which we can all relate to. They got the audience involved and split us up into key jinglers, snappers, a choir and a dance team to then be conducted by the cast to play Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls. It was very charming and well organized. Lastly, to wrap up the evening, they closed with a 10-15 minute improv set, telling the story of the given suggestion, “The Margarita Meets the Grinch.”
The tickets were a bit pricier than I would have liked, but all in all, it was a great way to kick off the holiday season. I look forward to attending more shows and sprinkling more Second City into Life’s A Funny Scene.
*There are different shows depending on the cast. This was a Wednesday night performance.
