“Q Brothers Christmas Carol–2018

[rating=5]’Tis the season to be jolly! If “jolly” means laughing a great deal, then the spot to be is at Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s YARD venue. This is the new theater between the Courtyard and the Ferris Wheel that replaced the old Pepsi Skyline. The beauty of this new venue is that they can change the configuration to fit the show. For those that have seen the Q Brothers do “their thing”, they are back to bring us their updated version of Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol”. While they do tell the story, ’tis how they do this that makes you feel as if you are at a comedy club rather than the theater.

Created, written and directed by the Q Brothers along with the other actors in the show, POS and JAX. JQ,  plays Marley, Belle, Present and Lil’ Tim and is a treat to watch. . “Q Brothers Christmas Carol”, tells the story of “A Christmas Carol” in a very short 80 minutes ( no intermission) of beats spun at the turntable ( Kieran Pereira at the turntable is outstanding), and rap along with hip-hop, dance hall music, and rock. The role of Scrooge is being handled (thru December 9th) by John Hoogenakker (now starring in “Jack Ryan” on Amazon TV) who is hysterical as this money-grubbing miser. Jason Grimm will take over the role of Scrooge after December 9th. While they are having fun with this classic story, they are staying with the actual tale of Scrooge. They do have the ghosts, and the history of Scrooge and while they cut out a great deal, one can follow the story. Only with a lot of laughter. And lets, face it- we could all use a bit of laughter now!

The other two men in the show are Postell Pringle as Bob Cratchit, Past and daughter Martha. There is a funny family scene when Bob and Martha communicate that will knock your sox off. Rounding out this hilarious cast is Jackson Doran as Fred, Dick Wilkins and Mama Cratchit. These four men, playing all the roles in a story that we all know, combine dance, song and pure comic timing to keep the audience in stitches for the entire 80 minutes. I will tell you that at last night’s opening,JQ, for some reason did go off script and do a bit of ad-lib. I could see that the audience was loving it and the other actors on stage stayed with him until he was ready to proceed. It was a funny bit and being a bowler, I enjoyed it even more than most.

The theater has been laid out as a night club with tables and chairs on the floor around the stage along with traditional theater seating. There are bars on both levels so audience members are encouraged to bring the drink into the theater. The set is pretty simple (Scott Davis who also did the costumes), the lighting (Jesse Klug) very effective and the sound (Stephen Ptacek) terrific. WE never missed a word! The choreography by Anacron and the music  was written by JQ.

“Q Brothers Christmas Carol” will be on the Yard stage thru December 30th with performances as follows:

Price: $30-$52

Stage: The Yard

Show Type: Performance Art

Box Office: 312-595-5600

www.chicagoshakes.com

Parking in the Navy Pier garage is reduced rate- make sure to bring your ticket for validation

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at ”  Q Brothers Christmas Carol ”

Laugh your way into the holiday season with these zany story-tellers.