Naughty or nice? Metropolis offers both for the holidays
Be thankful Santa Claus isn't making a list of the people visiting the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre this holiday season.
Anyone purchasing tickets to "The Second City's Exceedingly Dysfunctional Holiday Revue" would be marked by Santa as "naughty," while those choosing the family-friendly "A Christmas Carol" would inevitably be checked off twice as "nice."
Yet Ebenezer Scrooge was able to put off being redeemed until Christmas Eve in "A Christmas Carol," so that gives us plenty of time to laugh along with the adults-only irreverence of The Second City.
Right off the bat, the Second City performers have their work cut out for them in "Exceedingly Dysfunctional." Compared to the cozy club atmosphere of The Second City's Chicago hub, the Metropolis' regular theater configuration doesn't facilitate the comedy to flow as easily (though the Metropolis does offer cabaret-table seating in the first row).
The usual level of comic cohesion and polish typically seen in The Second City's Chicago revue casts isn't fully formed in "Exceedingly Dysfunctional." Still, the assembled tour company under Bill Bungeroth's direction does work hard to leave the audience in stitches.
Like most Second City revues, "Exceedingly Dysfunctional" features a mix of political and sociological sketches, songs and improvisational routines built upon audience interaction. And as the title suggests, dashes of curmudgeonly holiday cheer are sprinkled throughout (some holiday bits prove more successful than others).
It's the men who leave the strongest comic impressions in "Exceedingly Dysfunctional," particularly Joey Bland, who bears a slight resemblance to "Lord of the Rings" star Sean Astin. Bland's best bits include shaking his booty for a wildly inappropriate audition and playing a sensitive serial killer who meets cute with a potential victim (Lilly Allison, doing a delightfully ditsy take on a women who is too eager to share too much personal information).
Sam Richardson's Barack Obama sketch shows that he has the halting over-articulation and messianic pronouncement patterns of the President-elect down pat. Yet Richardson would have been more successful if he wasn't thrown on opening night by one snarky audience member's comment that left him floundering to riff on what Obama's administration would do about the Fourth Amendment (it has to do with unreasonable searches and seizures).
Seth Weitberg also makes strong contributions as a disgruntled singing elf and an office worker who gets way too drunk at a Christmas office party. Abby McEnany's low-key approach worked wonderfully as a couldn't-care-less hostage negotiator, while Brooke Bagnall showed how quick she was at improv while playing an uppity Neiman Marcus human resources manager interviewing yet another smart-alecky audience member.
Backing up the ensemble on piano and guitar is the skilled music director Boaz Reisman, who added immeasurably to musical spoofs of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and a klezmer-influenced ditty detailing the multiple spellings of Hanukkah.
On the "nice" end of Metropolis' holiday offerings is a solid, if routine, revival of "A Christmas Carol."
Part of the problem is the uneven tone of performances that director Karl Rutherford elicits from his cast. Some actors border on over-exaggeration (Amy Malouf and Clarissa Yearman's wide-eyed takes on the fundraising charity women) while others look like they're just going through the paces (David Tibble's Bob Cratchit is so low-key he practically blends into the background).
The other major problem is Marshall Stern's portrayal of the coldhearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge. Stern performs Scrooge as if he's working from a checklist of emotions without really accessing the character's inner turmoil and fear. (Stern's exchange with Steve Lehtman's ghost of Jacob Marley focuses more on the text's grouchy words than Scrooge's rationalizing terror that drives them).
The plusses of Metropolis' "Christmas Carol" include a lovely Victorian production design and Krista Scott's script adaptation that not only features lots of oft-quoted lines of Dickens' novella, but lots of opportunities for Christmas carols and dance to interrupt the action.
Metropolis' "A Christmas Carol" is downright respectable and serves its purpose of being an evergreen holiday tale to spur seasonal goodwill. Yet it's not a truly moving emotional experience to rival other theatrical takes on Charles Dickens' classic tale of one man's personal redemption.
"The Second City's Exceedingly Dysfunctional Holiday Revue"
Rating: 2½ stars
Location: Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights
Times: Varies, but mostly 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 9:30 p.m. Fridays, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturdays and 7 p.m. Sundays; through Dec. 31
Running time: Approximately two hours with intermission
Tickets: $28.50-$33.50; $50-$60 New Year's Eve
Parking: Area garages and street parking
Box office: (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.org
Audience: Profanity and some sexual situations makes this for mature audiences
"A Christmas Carol"
Rating: 2 stars
Location: Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, 111 W. Campbell St., Arlington Heights
Times: Varies, but mostly matinee times through Dec. 24
Running time: Approximately one hour and 45 minutes with intermission
Tickets: $28; $15 ages 12 and under
Parking: Area garages and street parking
Box office: (847) 577-2121 or metropolisarts.org
Audience: Suitable for families