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Jul. 4--A man discovers his wife in flagrante delicto with another man. "I'm doing this for you," she says. "She is," says her lover, sheepishly. "I own a gas station."
"Do you want a sandwich or something?" says the husband.
Gas prices. Immigration. Rising interest rates. Government intrusions on individual privacy. And, of course, the conflict in Iraq. Or, as they say on the Second City mainstage, "War! Now In its Fourth Smash Year!" So much to laugh about.
Actually, the deeper the global anxieties, the more fertile the ground for Second City to plow. This isn't one of the all-time greats, but the latest mainstage revue is a solidly amusing, politically aware and laudably risky jaunt through various American neuroses of all scales and stripes. The show manages a deft mix of material while flying the urban-liberal flag sufficiently high and proud enough that a few future conservative conventioneers likely will be in for the odd unpleasant surprise. Which is exactly the way Second City likes it.
The sections likely to cause the most squirms in the audience include a grandmother wanting to fight in Iraq in her grandson's place, a couple of comic bits involving a young woman taken hostage by Iraqi insurgents, and a monologue from Brian Gallivan, wherein an 18-year-old leukemia victim arranges various favors from George Clooney through the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
As is often the case at this theater, the edgier stuff actually turns out to be the funniest because those moments are crafted with the most care. It also helps that Gallivan, the standout in this cast, has such a guileless personality and empathetic relationship with an audience that he can get away with saying the most outrageous things.
Gallivan's work is firmly rooted in truth (albeit fantastical teenage truth), which is more than you can say for some of the weaker material, including the old ventriloquist-dummy shtick and a damp squid of a sketch involving an unethical senator--which, incredibly, given the history of unethical senators, manages to lack credibility.
Mostly, though, the show is very funny. The best laughs come with the short blackout sketches, but there are also two very strong longer-form pieces. One begins with a Harpo Productions staffer coming up to Oprah Winfrey (Claudia Michelle Wallace) and telling her that they want to give the entire audience an iPod but have only one. "Let me touch it," says Winfrey, laying hands on the gizmo and, loaves and fishes style, making one for everyone. Things continue hysterically from there, concluding, most miraculously of all, with Winfrey parting the Dan Ryan Expressway.
The second is a very funny and relatively balanced musical montage on the topic of immigration, wherein a Mexican immigrant (Ithamar Enriquez) dreams of a land where every Starbucks has a Starbucks.
This is still a relatively fresh and young mainstage cast--newcomer Joe Canale joins the troupe with the warm Enriquez moving up from the e.t.c. stage. The rest of the group--Maribeth Monroe, Molly Erdman, Wallace and Gallivan--have been together briefly. In terms of pace, polish and connection, they have a ways to go. But you can see connections starting to happen.
cjones5@tribune.com
"War! Now In Its Fourth Smash Year" plays at 1618 N. Wells St. For tickets, call 312-337-3252.
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Copyright (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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