“Girls Night:The Musical”

Somewhat recommended ** Not being a female, I have never attended a “bachelorette Party”, but I have heard that they are quite raunchy and that the women tend to let it all hang out!. “Girls Night: The Musical” now playing at The Club, a basement Cabaret located at 5 West Division ( at State), a pretty lively drinking area itself is sort of a HUGE Bachelorette Party where all of the audience members are the guests as we  spend two hours eavesdropping on five friends, one of them now deceased who is an angel, although as the story is told, one wonders how she earned those wings ( you will not hear a bell ring for Sharon. The event that brings them together is th eengagement party for Sharon’s daughter ( who never shows up) at a Karaoke bar. Enough said! You know there will be singinging as we learn a great deal about these different personalities, who somehow managed to be friends.

The stories and the hi-jinks of these ladies that are meant to tell a story, just don’t work! The room is intimate enough so we get to watch these ladies do their thing ( as lot of tugging at their underwear and touchy feely as well as a scene where a blow-up doll ( male , of course) rather well endowed, is held, played ring toss  with and you can guess the rest. As the story unveils, we learn that hey were not real friends and that the woman they have honored since her death is in fact far from an angel. I will say that these five women have lots of great energy and strong singing voices as they belt out songs such as ,”Girls Just Want To Have Fun”,” I Will Survive”,”Young Hearts run Free”,”Born To Party”, “I Am Who I Am”,”Don’t Cry Out Loud”, “Cry Me A River” and the finale “We Are Family”. It is a shame that these marvelous talented women are asked to do these inane sight gags ( bananas and cucumbers and such, oh my!) A simpler story with less craziness and more singinging would have been a better entertainment value, but the bar was open and the audience ( 99% female, of course) was having a great time. The few men who were there ( with the exeption of we, the reviewers, I am sure were hopeful of scoring points with the women they brought.

The five ladies in this cast ( the photo on the poster doesn’t appear to be them) are Missy Aguilar as Carol( the party girl),Andrea DeCamp as Anita, Marken Greenwood as Liza ( married with lots of kids and very unhappy),Jennifer Oakley as Kate the nerdy designated drive and Shelby Garrett as Sharon. All attractive , in their ways and all with wonderful voices and range, but they are curtailed by the material. I guess if you have had a few drinks before and during and are in the mood to bust loose, the story doesn’t much matter- you will survive! And if you had enough to drink, you probably won’t recall much the next morning.

The positive note to this production- they are affiliated with Bright Pink, a non-profit organization that is focusing on the prevention and early detection or breast and ovarian Cancer (www.brightpink.org) and a portion of the ticket sales will be donated to this organization.Another sponsor is OneHope wine, a cause brand where 50% of their profits are donated to partner charities (www.ONE-HOPEWINE.com). The fact that your seeing this show and enjoying a glass of wine will benefit others makes it a more enjoyable entertainment experience.

“Girls Night:The Musical” will run through August  26th with performances Thursday-Saturday evenings at 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m.

Tickets are $45-$65 and can be purchased by calling 877-386-6968 or online at www.girlsnightthemusical.com. Group tickets are $10 less ( 10 or more make a group)-call 773-327-3778 or www.grouptix.net

To receive a half price bottle of ONEHOPE wine with your ticket purchase, download the FREE Bartab app and find Girls Night or visit www.bartab.com, a pretty neat way of buying your drinks as well. No waiting!