The title of the new Second City E.T.C. revue, We’re All in This Room Together, alludes to the theater lover’s mystic faith that something sacred happens when one set of human beings performs for another set of same in a common space in real time. It’s a sweet notion—especially now, when a “crowd” is defined as multiple mobile devices ranged in close proximity to one another. It can even be seen as a manifesto of sorts, calling for a world without tweet seats.
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But it also comes across as, oh, just a little disingenuous as the show gets under way. A smarmy opening song declares that “some things don’t change”: when you come down to it, we’re told, a Second City revue still consists of six performers, four chairs, and an audience that’s close enough to touch—the cast members proving that by trooping down to the lip of the stage and shaking hands with people in the front row. You might be forgiven for looking around and thinking, Well, yes and no, as musical director Jesse Case pulls bizarre sounds out of his digital equipment. After all, when you really, really come down to it, a Second City revue consists of six performers who won’t have arrived until they’ve been picked up by SNL.
In another bit, Andel Sudik and Aidy Bryant play old ladies at a movies-in-the-park event who’d much rather kibbitz with the people around them (i.e., us) than watch what’s on the screen. Their goofy warmth makes for, yes, an engaging series of exchanges.
Open run: Tue-Thu 8 PM, Fri-Sat 8 and 11 PM, Sun 3 and 7 PM, check with theater for exceptions, the Second City E.T.C. Theatre, 1608 N. Wells, 312-337-3992, secondcity.com, $23-$28.
