“Do The Right Thing, No Worries if Not”

[rating=4]Second City is a major part of Chicago’s theater scene. While it is a comedy club with food and drink, over the years, they have trained and brought some of the funniest people alive to their stages. They do shows, which are called “revues’, but knowing that the talent that we see on the stage is the group that wrote the scenes and that this group can change the verbiage on the spot, based on the audience and the times, makes them playwrights. Tonight, thye opened their 110th “mainstage” Revue, “Do The Right Thing, No Worries if Not”.

For those of you familiar with Second City, this company has six performers who wrote the show and they are a very clever group, indeed.  Andy Bolduc, E.J.Cameron, Kiley Fitzgerald, Claire McFadden, Evan Mills and Julia Morales. They come from all over the United States, mostly for the thrill of learning at Second City and then to reach the mainstage ( and hopefully, beyond). The show is directed by Jen Ellison .The musical director is Jeff Bouthiette and the stage manager is Sara Stock.

The show is divided in two acts with a total time of 2 hours and 25 minutes including one intermission.

One of the beautiful things about The Second City is the ability of the performers to get the crowd into the show, and these performers do this quickly ( and often). Pay close attention to Evan Mills. His body is like a rubber doll. He bends in all directions and his “Hold Up Your Hand” bit in both acts is adorable. E.J.Cameron is a funny guy who plays the audience to the hilt.

Claire McFadden is the “local” girl and quite a hoot. Kiley will have you rolling in the aisles, in particular when them/they is rolling on the stage. We weren’t sure if that was a bit from the start or an ad lib because of faulty equipment. I am pretty sure that since the effect was hysterical, it will now be IN! That is the beauty of “improv”. The script can change every night and because a new audience is there to work off, it will.

Part of the Second City process is developing the “final product” over a few weeks in order to see what audiences react to. They are in many ways like chefs preparing a meal for a very special event. From the reactions, these performers stir their product and alter the recipe so that when they open, they are as tasty a morsel as a diner would like served. One can see that these six chefs have put the right ingredients, stirred properly and last night served up laughs to each and every guest.

“Do The Right Thing, No Worries if Not” will be playing until the next show with performances as follows:

Tuesdays  8 p.m.

Wednesdays  8 p.m.

Thursdays  8 p.m.

Fridays  7 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Saturdays  7 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Sundays  7 p.m.

Covid Regulations: must be vaccinated and bring a copy of the card.

Tickets are $29 and up and can be purchased by phone at 312-337-3992 or online at www.secondcity.com

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Do The Right Thing, No Worries if Not”.