We're All In This Second City Together

(Full Disclosure - as part of Second City's media list, I received complimentary tickets for a special press premiere. Show formally opens on 7/1)

"Our jobs kick your jobs' ass!"

So it's the hottest day of the year - the first time Chicago temperatures broke 100 degrees in seven years. The kind of day which is best spent staying in an air-conditioned home consuming large quantities of chilled, non-alcoholic fluids.

However, this past Thursday evening I spent attending a special premiere of We're All In This Room Together, the latest revue from in Second City's ETC theater....and quite frankly, it was a great way to spend an evening.

It's also one of the more intriguingly staged productions - sketches "rewind" and provide different options and outcomes. There's much more audience engagement and "playing" in this revue. That's what makes this much more enjoyable and perhaps even fosters a desire to return, with the performances top-notch and a strong sense of playful exploration. It's one of the few times

Sketches focus on various levels of connection and disconnection, ranging from a country singer and her "all ex-husband" band to a man trying to get his child into U of C Lab School; from a couple cruising in a Ferrari in the 1980s to a debate between two candidates for city councilman. This is one of the more "physical" revues as well, with the cast energetically throwing themselves into their performance, avoiding what could easily be a sit-down-and-be-funny performance.

We Are All in This Room Together is one of the more successful ETC reviews because it is so intimate. It cuts straight to the heart, has a great deal of wit, and is mandatory viewing.

Go see this. You'll thank me later.