Victoria Zielinski, Paul Barrosse and Dana Olsen in a scene from their new show Quick! Before We’re Cancelled!!! Credit: Béa Rashid
Question: What do Abigail Adams, the pope and Tarzan have in common? (Don’t ponder in silence. Here’s a link to the Final Jeopardy music.)
Answer: They are all featured in the Practical Theatre Company’s annual comedy revue this year. The show, titled Quick! Before We’re Cancelled!!! deals with politics, current events and common absurdities of being a conscientious person in today’s world. Whether you are flummoxed by the behavior of politicians in the nation’s capital or just need an opportunity to get out of the house and laugh out loud with an adult beverage in your hand, this revue has something to offer.
Studio5 is their home turf and an ideal place to experience a combination of comedy and music. Victoria Zielinski, Paul Barrosse and Dana Olsen write and develop the show every year, act in every scene, source their own costumes and schlep props and furniture in the dark as needed. They are consummate comedic professionals who’ve been honing their flair for funny since they met as students at Northwestern University in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Another Northwestern friend from way back is Steve Rashid, the co-founder and artistic director of Studio5. Rashid writes the music, leads the band and even acts in a few skits.
From left: Victoria Zielinski, Paul Barrosse, Dana Olsen and Steve Rashid. Credit: Bradford Rogne
Balance between politics and people
Barrosse said they exchange ideas for skits throughout the year but really start forming the show in earnest in June.
“We actually settled on thematic things early. Dana came in with an idea about updating this old classic cowboy song called Ghost Riders in the Sky and turning it into a song about the immigration raids,” Barrosse said. “We do another thing that I think is very important. Early in the first act, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson are toasting the fact that they’ve written this brilliant Constitution. Abigail Adams comes in and pokes all the holes in it that we now see in the Constitution, and we laugh her off. For me, once we had those two things, I really felt OK.”
From left: Dana Olsen as Thomas Jefferson, Victoria Zielinski as Abigail Adams and Paul Barrosse as John Adams in the Practical Theatre Co.’s new revue, Quick! Before We’re Cancelled!!! Credit: Béa Rashid
Zielinski added, “For me, it’s keeping in mind that we can no longer rely on civic virtue as a moral compass. It’s all broken. I think it bleeds through to the ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] things, to other things we talk about. We’re through the looking glass. And that was one of the final interviews that Rob Reiner gave. He said, ‘We have like, 9-10, months left of democracy left unless we get up off our a____ and fight for it.’ And I think there’s a bit of fight in this show.”
“It’s always a balance. We always remind ourselves, we don’t want to be preachy, you know, we want to entertain people. We want to do it to be cathartic. And we want to do things that aren’t political, that are just about relationships, that are just about people, and stuff that’s just plain fun,” Olsen said.
Tarzan, Eastwood, Pope Leo and parody songs
Every year, they try to develop a skit in the style of The Carol Burnett Show, where they dress up in crazy costumes and throw caution to the wind. Last year, the trio presented a Western, and about four years ago, there was a Tarzan sketch that featured Barrosse in a loincloth.
“He disrupted everything. And that’s the hardest I ever broke on stage every performance. I could not stop laughing as soon as he came out,” Zielinski said.
Barrosse as Tarzan was so good, they are doing a reprise this year. This time, Tarzan will be more svelte. Barrosse joined a gym and has lost more than 20 pounds in preparation.
There is a visit with Abraham Lincoln at Walt Disney World and two short scenes about Pope Leo XIV. In one, pre-pope priest Robert Francis Prevost, a Chicago native and avowed White Sox fan, is caught on video at Comiskey Park. In another, Prevost as pope sings Take Me Out to the Ball Game at Wrigley Field.
Paul Marinaro, a well-known jazz vocalist, joins the cast as the show announcer, a participant in several musical numbers and as a soloist. One of his solos is an original comedic number — a breakup song about Elon Musk and Donald Trump. There’s a skit about Clint Eastwood reprising his famous Dirty Harry role, except Eastwood is 95 years old and it’s his 342nd film.
Original Rashid song
Rashid will be performing a new song, as will Larry Schanker, a “keyboard virtuoso” and composer. They’ll be accompanied by the Studio5 quartet along with Jim Cox on bass and Robert Rashid on drums.
The show is mostly finalized. This upcoming week, they will focus on stage blocking, rehearsing with each other and the band, and timing each section to make sure there aren’t any gaps of dead space. Yet there is always room for late-breaking current events. They’re toying with the idea of developing a sketch about Trump derangement syndrome.
As Zielinski said, “We’re gonna fight back with comedy.”
The show, Quick! Before We’re Cancelled!!!, debuts at Studio5, part of Dance Center Evanston, at 1934 Dempster St. The revue runs for two weekends, Dec. 26-28 and Jan. 1-3. The show starts at 7:30 p.m.; tickets are $40-$55. Guests may purchase tickets online up until one hour before showtime. Any remaining tickets are available for purchase at the door.
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