The Absolute Best Friggin’ Time of Your Life Second City E.T.C.
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Though Bungeroth’s a rookie at E.T.C., he’s no stranger to Second City. He’s directed one of the touring companies for years and served as assistant director on the 2008 mainstage revue, America: All Better! (Second City is good about promoting from within—a smart policy, as proven by the ongoing success of another up-through-the-ranks director, Matt Hovde, whose credits include Rod Blagojevich, Superstar!) Bungeroth also plays guitar with local group JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, and The Absolute Best moves with the staccato rhythm of a rock show. Jokes come fast and pack a wallop, song harmonies are tight, and the dance moves for an homage to the Rubenesque female figure are in-your-face snappy. There’s not a second wasted on that stage. Even some purposeful silences—like the one that greets a stepdad when he oversteps his bounds with his new family—linger just long enough to make their point.
Under these circumstances, changes in tempo have a hell of an impact. One scene has Baltz making a pass at his social studies teacher, played by Mary Sohn, whose character initially rejects the proposition. But then she pauses to consider how the relationship would unfold and we suddenly see her experiencing the butterflies of a girl being asked out by the guy she likes. A similar transformation occurs in a scene featuring Christina Anthony, who’s black, as a worker showing her disdain for a colleague, played by Tom Flanigan, who’s white. I’m not going to give away what happens next, but it turns a standard scene about racial tension on its head and stops Bungeroth’s drive for a moment, opening up some room to breathe before the rhythm takes hold again.
