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By popular demand, the Second City improvisational ensemble has returned to Baltimore with a follow-up show to their previous performance Second City Does Baltimore, which played last January.
Once again, the best parts of the show are the improvisations. They give each audience a unique and special experience. If you aren't a Baltimorean, however, it may be difficult to follow all the jokes with references to Baltimore public and private schools, Johns Hopkins, and former Governor Schaeffer up in heaven developing waterfront hotels. But inside jokes is part of what Second City is famous for and if you are familiar with Baltimore, the show promises for you a very entertaining evening.
Wednesday nights, Baltimore cele ities join the ensemble as guests to be interviewed, which will then provide fodder for related improvisations. On the schedule for September 28th is the Baltimore Grand Prix General Manager Lonnie Fisher, so expect some improvisations based on racecars and their drivers. October 5th, the cele ity guest will be Musician Dan Deacon and Wham City and on October 12th the cele ity participant will be CenterStage artistic director Kwame Kwei-Armah.
Chicago based Second City is a theater company that has multiple shows and ensemble groups performing comedy reviews and musical stage productions throughout the United States. At the heart of all, their productions, is improvisation, because Second City was founded in 1959 on the concept that original sketches that dealt with topical issues, when paired with original lyrics sung to familiar tunes, would entertain audiences night after night. They've been very successful at it. Six actors, all different from the ones who performed last winter— Ryan Archibald, Lili-Anne Brown, Cody Dove, Brooke Breit, Chelsea Devantez, and Ric Walker, are accompanied by musical director and pianist Matthew Loren Cohen. Additional material was written by Ed Furman and Tim Snffen. Directed by Matt Hoyde, the show fuses musical numbers and prepared skits specific to Baltimore that are combined with generic skits and improvised sketches based on words provided by the audience, and body poses that are selected by one of the members of the ensemble.
The show will be playing through October 16th. For more information on upcoming performances call 410-332-0033 or visit the CenterStage website at www.centerstage.org.
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