Review From The Future: Second City Does Cuba!

Editor’s Note: This fake review comes from seven years in the future! Enjoy!

Famed American comedy troupe opened its revue "The Second City Does Cuba or Go Ahead and Castro Your Vote" Saturday night at the Teatro Fausto and as they say, it's time to "Raul out the barrels." The show skewers Cuba (and it’s often tense American relations) in song and sketch and is rife, of course, with wisecracks about Hemingway, imprisoning journalists and amateur boxing

In an opening number titled “Communist Party” we are invited to a House party where we learn that none of the guests have brought anything assuming it would be provided by the host. And with that light misunderstanding about communism, we start to delve deeper into Cubano culture as seen by the American troupe (It's not just a sandwich!)

“We sent two writers to Havana for a week,” says cast member Dave Dowling (he is one of the four American cast members who, along with two native Cubans, make up the cast of six). "They came back with little material and great tans.”

The short one-joke skits get a lot of traction. In one, a Cuban boasts what great free healthcare they have right before being informed that their doctor has been traded to Venezuela for a vat of oil. In another, a hipster lectures another hipster about his Che Guevara T-shirt, chiding him that he doesn’t understand the symbolism or appreciate the rich history of this man or their country to which the second hipster responds “I’m Elian Gonzalez, bitch.” And in an “Operation Mongoose” runner, a CIA agent in silly disguises keeps trying different plots to kill a jovial Fidel (exploding cigar, Mafia, killer mongoose to name a few) to which Fidel figures it out just in the nick of time and charmingly wags his finger “Ah ah ah CIA, not this time!” as they laugh together and freeze like in a sitcom before the agent is executed by firing squad.

Not all the comedy is steeped in the past; in a full cast skit each actor portrays a representative from a nearby Caribbean island in a brainstorming session expressing the fear that now that Cuba is open for tourism their islands might suffer. The conference soon degenerates as the Jamaican representative is too high to function and the delegate from Cancun does body shots off of the Bahamian between pleas by the Haitian to help rebuild his country. “Seriously guys, does anyone have a couch I can sleep on?”

Perhaps the most touching (but least funny) skit takes place between a Cuban kid (played by the boyish Dave Dowling) and his American cousin meeting for the first time. They stay largely away from any cheap and easy inner-tube jokes and instead explore the cultural differences and ultimately human sameness of two youths.

But there is no lack of “goofy,” either, as a voice-over introduces “Fiddle Castro, the lesser known of the three brothers.” What follows is delightfully silly scene and a welcome respite from the weighty political content of the rest of the show.

And while they poke fun at Cubans, don’t think Americans are spared. In an early skit an old Cuban remarks that now that Cuba is open for American tourism they're about to experience a real "Bay of pigs." What follows is a riotous scene involving two American tourists wearing American flag speedos and cowboy hats traveling through the audience as they exclaim “Cuba Libre!” and get the audience to respond “Cuba libre!” in call and response until finally one of the American’s exasperated yells  “No, I want a Cuba Libre to drink, don’t any of you work here?!”

The real test of any Second City company comes in the improvisation skits and our favorite moment of the night was when Karl Marx (played by the diminutive Dave Dowling), wove audience suggestions into an updated Communist Manifesto.

There is plenty of music as well. The throwback song “Sugar, Cigars and Old Vintage Cars” hit a sweet note but lacked the punch of the act one showstopper “Fidel...ity” in which Fidel (played by a bearded Dave Dowling) attempts to get through “Fidel’s Reflections” but keeps getting interrupted as more and more of his illegitimate children join him onstage to form a Rockettes-style kick-line, ending the first act by exclaiming “He treats all Cubans like his children because most of us ARE!”

Not all of the show works; A send up of the show “Wife Swap” entitled “Prisoner Swap” is met with stony silence. The troupe’s liberal bias shows as they neglect to mention the still-very-much-open Guantanamo Bay detention center. Thanks, Obama!

But I have to say the evening's highlight is a romantic interlude between a man and his blow-up doll. I will admit that I fail to see what this vignette has to do with the ups and downs of living in Cuba, but it is funny, funny, funny.

“Second City Does Cuba or Go Ahead and Castro Your Vote” runs Saturdays and Sundays. For more information regarding ticket availability please contact Raul Castro directly at (537) CUBAS or ONLINE if you find a way to get Internet access.

Andel Sudik has performed improv at iO, the Playground and the Annoyance and sketch comedy at Second City on a cruise ship, in theatricals, with the National Touring Company and on the e.t.c. stage. She is an alumni of Boom Chicago in Amsterdam, currently teaches sketch and improv in Chicago and occasionally writes things while looking out her window at the lake. Follow her on twitter @AndelSudik or check out her website andelsudik.com.