Do you like musicals? Are you just not into live theatre? If not, you've really missed out on something awesome. June and I saw "Rod Blagojevich Superstar" on May 16 at the Hoogland Center for the Arts.
This is a performance put on by cast members of The Second City, which has served as a starting point for many of the famous "Saturday Night Live" of years past and today. The last performances in Springfield (as of this writing) were the 16th and 17th. We attended the 7 p.m. show, which sold out (I believe all of them did).
The show, of course, is about the rise and fall of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The cast of five includes portrayals of Rod Blago, Patti Blago, U.S. Sen. Roland Burris, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Chicago Alderman Richard Melland U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. This is one of those shows where there aren't really any stage settings or props to slow the action down. You have to use your imagination, but you don't have to stretch it too hard. You'll be too busy laughing.
The story starts out with "innocent" Rod, a real scrapper, meeting Patti and her father, Richard Mell. The story continues on through recent history, with Blago spiraling down the corruption hole the entire way. The play covers many of the smaller Blago scandals while leading up to the climax of Blago allegedly trying to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat, followed by the appointment of Roland Burris and Blago's arrest soon afterward. The version of the play we saw was slightly updated to include mentions of Blago's TV and radio appearances.
This is one of the best comedies I've seen in a very long time. The silly songs, witty exchange and fact intertwined with slight fiction kept us ROFLing the entire time. It's been almost a week later and I still find myself humming tunes from the show, such as the main theme, "I'm a Scrapper," and "Pay to Play." Each member of the cast was terrific. I especially enjoyed the performances of Kristen Ferilich (Patti Blago), Randall Harr (Rod Blago), and John Hildreth (Roland Burris). Things that made me LOL the most were the times Burris entered the set ("Hello ? Roland Burris"), Blago's hairbrush and Patti's potty mouth.
The show is great, yes, but don't take your small children to see it. Like I hinted in the last paragraph, Patti keeps it real by dropping f-bombs and other dirty words left and right. Take your teenager, though, because they've heard it all from either you or their friends already. I don't think there will be any more Springfield performances, but you can still check them out in Chicago at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre until June 14.
The images in this post are from the press kit provided by Second City. These aren't the actors in the show we attended, but you get the idea?
