Cabaret Archives - ChicagoCritic.com

Jacques Brel’s Lonesome Losers of the Night – 2017

October 22, 2022June 19, 2017 by August Lysy

Sitting at the back of No Exit Café, hearing the play of the piano within the dim room as the singers breathed life into sentiments older than myself, I caught a glimpse of an old world that was once new and fresh—a world, one imagines, in which the patrons of this “shabby waterfront bar” made love to their glasses as passionately as they made love to their women—as passionately as they rode and communed w

The Winner…of our Discontent

October 23, 2022December 11, 2016 by Tom Williams

In their 105the revue, the new management at The Second City has presented their six creator/performers a mixed bag of sketch comedy titles: The Winner…of our Discontent which asks if its broken, should we fix it? With post-election drama filled with rich comic possibilities, I was amazed at the lack of biting comedy in the group’s sketch bits about the election?. True there were some funny bits like the Cubs bat boy bit and the three guys watering the lawn but there were also several bits that just didn’t produce laughs.

This Way Outta Santaland

October 22, 2022December 6, 2016 by Tom Williams

Add some clever tune mixed with holiday favorites deftly sung by power-voiced Meghan Murphy and This Way Outta Santaland is a precious, deeply human, holiday night of stories celebrating one of the funniest comic entertainers working in Chicago – Mitchell Fain

Let Me Entertain You: Jule Styne’s Greatest Hits

September 6, 2017October 9, 2016 by Tom Williams

Tunes from Funny Girl (lyrics by Bob Merrill) with like know shows that produced songs that became standards, this songfest produces one tuneful song after another. we remember songs like “The Party’s Over,” ” Don’t Rain on My Parade,” I’ve Heard That Song Before,” “It’s Been A Long Time,” “Saturday Night Is the Loneliest Night of the Week, “It’s Magic, ” “Time After Time,” and “Make Someone Happy” and “People” are among the wonderful tunes that not only were sung expertly but presented with their meaning or spirit.

Second City e.t.c.’s 40th Revue – A Red Line Runs Through It

May 1, 2016 by August Lysy

Written and Performed by Lisa Beasley, Aasia LaShay Bullock,

Peter Kim, Katie Klein, Julie Marchiano, Scott Morehead

Directed by Matt Hovde

Musical Direction/Original Music/Sound Design by Jesse Case

At The Second City e.t.c., Chicago

Running Express to Entertain

If you’re looking for an entertaining show where you can eat, drink, and laugh all at the same time, then Second City e.t.c.’s 40^th Revue A Red Line Runs Through It is where you should be tonight. Written and performed by some of Second City’s best, this nearly two-hour show gambols pell-mell through skits, songs, and dances that never failed to amuse with their at-times outrageous and absurd but always skillfully diverse display of comedy.

A Red Line Runs Through It features a lot of lighting and music that, far from merely complementing the skits and atmosphere, are integral to the show as a whole. For instance, the show opens with the cast riding an El-train, bored and impatient at a delay; then, inexplicably, the emergency lights go out and a black light comes on to reveal the entire cast wearing Guy Fawkes’ masks (also inexplicably) and eerily dancing. Absurd? Yes. Amusing? Inexplicably so. Some of the best skits also involve singing, such as a political rap battle, an ironic love song to Rahm Emmanuel, and an improvised song based upon an audience call-out (in this case, crazy drivers), among several others.

Besides this noteworthy inclusion of music (compliments to Jesse Case), the show features some strong collaborative moments among the cast as well as some in which individual members are allowed to shine. We see Peter Kim coach his very white friend Scott Morehead on the how-to of drag; Lisa Beasley and Aasia Lashay Bullock blithely perform some everyday “black-girl magic”; Julie Marchiano plays a humorless fitness/life guru whose existential exercises lead Beasley to commit murder; Katie Klein exposes the seedy past of the Frank Lloyd Wright Estate amidst the mundane backdrop of an architectural tour; and, at one point, the whole cast delivers different iterations of the opening segment to the 11 p.m. news, varying their approaches depending on the city.

My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra

December 10, 2015December 8, 2015 by Tom Williams

Conceived by Todd Olson & David Grapes Book by Todd Olson Directed by Fred Anzevino Music Direction by Jeremy Ramey Choreographed by Maggie Portman Produced by Theo Ubique Cabaret Theater At No Exit Cafe, Chicago Sophistication: Modern definitions include quality of refinement — displaying good taste, wisdom and subtlety rather than crudeness, stupidity and vulgarity. … Read more

The Anyway Cabaret

September 6, 2017October 20, 2014 by Jacob Davis

The Anyway Cabaret (an animal cabaret) is a strange but funny new musical from the creative team at TUTA. An amazingly talented cast of ten accompany each other in songs about animals that range from goofy to very sad.

Joy to the World

September 6, 2017November 25, 2012 by Tom Williams

Fred Anzevino and Jeremy Ramey have created a fine Christmas revue that is just the right thing for Saturday and Sunday matinee lovers who get-stressed by shopping. All they have to do is get to the No Exit Cafe in Rogers Park to hear four delightful singers and a fabulous piano and bass produce classic holiday tunes.

Smokey Joe’s Cafe

November 20, 2012October 1, 2012 by Tom Williams

Director Brenda Didier and music director Jeremy Ramey have mounted a fabulous musical revue of the songs of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller prolific composers of 60- 70’s pop, rick, R & B. blues and gospel tunes

Time After Time

September 6, 2017June 27, 2012 by Tom Williams

Combining duets and full ensemble harmonies and cute dance movements, Time After Time unfolds as a fun, silky tune fest that showcases the skills Jule Styne possessed making him one of the premier songwriters of the 20th Century.