Toronto Review: 'The Second City Totally Likes You' at Second City
Joe Szekeres, Chief Toronto Critic
Well, The Second City Touring Company is at it again. Its new show ‘The Second City Totally Likes You’ is billed on its website as “aiming Cupid’s bow at dating, sex, meet-cutes and meet-uglies in this hormone-and-hilarity charged show that marries classic archive material with brand-new swipes at relationships.”
Ya wanna know something, Second City?
I’m totally liking you too.
Thank you for putting a smile on my face and making me laugh many times throughout this opening day performance on a bleak, dreary and cold winter Saturday afternoon.
This highly frenetic six-member cast (where they get and how they maintain that energy is something which should be pill manufactured) never ventured over the top in silliness, so I must applaud Director Kirsten Rasmussen in keenly eyeing and watching for that. Improvisational comedy can be great fun to watch when performed well, but it requires stamina and intent listening. When I taught high school drama for two years, I found classroom improv challenging as it demands complete attention, acute focus and ready to respond quickly. Hell, there were days where it damn near wore me out.
I wasn’t worn out here watching these six sprightly young people poke a great deal of fun at dating and mating and all that stuff that flutters into relationships which become of the utmost importance as Valentines Day approaches. If anything, I was glad I wasn’t sitting near the front as there’s audience participation involved especially if you’re a couple.. If you make eye contact with one of the performers, you’re on your own.
All relationships are amusingly poked at in this era of openness and ‘love is love is love’. I especially liked the sexy, sleek poses the cast took at the top of Acts One and Two. At one point, I thought they would break out in ‘He Had it Coming’ from the musical Chicago. I loved the satirical dating commentaries on people who use Tinder. The one sketch that nearly had me do a Danny Thomas spit take (anyone remember him) was the commentary involving a lesbian couple and a traditional heterosexual couple and when it’s the perfect time to tell someone you love him or her. Beautiful timed work here.
There are two full company sketches which magnificently worked. The first occurred at a wedding and the obnoxious tinkling of the wine glasses in order to get the newly married couple to kiss. I’m trying not to spoil any of the jokes, but there is a line about attending a Roman Catholic wedding that nearly had me do another said spit take above. Yes, I’m a practicing Roman Catholic so the joke and reference hit home today. All in good fun. The other involved Jillian Welsh and Ms. Spear talking about books at a book club meeting, and the sexual references and innuendos from the entire company. The roof exploded from laughter at how the two moments were meshed.
There were some standout performers and moments where I really want to refer to specific individuals. Nicole Passmore’s comedic timing as a singing diva at her birthday with audience participation worked extremely well. To me, I thought I could hear a bit of Broadway recording star Bernadette Peters’ voice in Ms. Passmore. The other moment involved Ms. Passmore as an aunt who arrives at her niece and husband’s place for some afternoon tea. I couldn’t clearly hear the aunt’s name, but Ms. Passmore’s targeted diatribe on the terrors of having a baby to performers Andy Assaf and Hannah Spear was solid. The horrific looks and responses of Mr. Assaf and Ms. Spear were naturally funny.
Can’t forget Music Director Ayaka Kinugawa at this performance as well. The underscoring of certain scenes with the piano worked well especially in the sketch where Christian Smith brings his new boyfriend Andy Assaf home to dinner to meet his parents. I learned something today about the juxtaposition of song in improvisational comedy. You don’t need to have trained singers. Instead, you must have intuitive comic timing to pull off a song. These six performers certainly have that timing.
Final Comments: Uproarious! Funny bone tickling entertainment skewered with razor sharp edges! Take your sweetie, take your lover, take your partner, take your friends, take your family, take them all to ‘Second City Totally Likes You’.
They do! They really do.
Running time: approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes with one intermission.
THE SECOND CITY TOTALLY LIKES YOU
Performs on the Mainstage Theatre at Second City, 51 Mercer Street, on Mondays at 8 pm, Friday at 10:30 pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 4 pm.
For tickets, call (416) 343-0011 and/or visit www.secondcity.com and click Toronto and scroll over to the appropriate tab.
Director: Kirsten Rasmussen; Music Director: Ayaka Kinugawa; Stage Manager: Sam Polito;
Performers: Andy Assaf; Matt Folliott; Nicole Passmore, Christian Smith; Hannah Spear; Jillian Welsh;
Photo of Jillian Welsh, Hannah Spear, Andy Assaf and Matt Folliott by Paul Aihoshi