Abby McEnany, Sam Richardson, Rachel Miller, Brooke Bagnall, and Seth Weitberg look forward to seeing you at the Second City 50th Anniversary show at Wolf Trap.
Alda, Radner, Belushi, and Castellaneta…What do these legendary comedians have in common? Besides “Saturday Night Live” and “The Simpsons,” they all (along with numerous celebrated comedians) performed with the Improv-based sketch comedy group, Second City. The Second City group will be stampeding its way across the nation and landing at Wolf Trap on March 13th and 14th for its 50th anniversary celebration show. On Tap spoke with Rachel Miller, one of the Second City comedians, who will be gracing the Wolf Trap stage in March.
Rachel Miller: It’s an improvisational group that gathers for rehearsal, but we don’t quite know what we are rehearsing until we get there. For example, someone will blurt out a scenario where one person is French, another is a giraffe on roller skates and another is a tight-ass zookeeper who doesn’t want a mess…and then we roll from there. By recording our rehearsals, we can see what works and what doesn’t. Once we agree, we bring it to the audience, who always has the final say.
RM: I had just moved to Chicago [where Second City originated] and my friend had an extra ticket to see a performance. At the end of the show they were offering Improv classes and I took them up on the offer. Let’s just say I found my home!
RM: The 50th anniversary show is a medley of retrospective pieces from Second City’s 50 years of life. Even if you’ve seen some of these pieces before, they’re inherently different because there’s a different director and ensemble. Compare it to eating mac & cheese, but having it prepared by different cooks (maybe that wasn’t such a good analogy…but it sounded delicious!).
The show is the same on both nights and will consist of 2 acts. We have a third act where we take ideas from the audience. We may ask “Where did your parents meet?” And someone may shout out “The county fair.” We’ll take it from there.
RM: Second City promotes the power of a group and the ensemble as an art form. There is no indivi dual. Second City is a giant family that instills a healthy competition amongst its members. The fact that comic greats like Bonnie Hunt and Stephen Colbert came from this family, reminds us that Second City holds a high standard of greatness.
RM: Give up the control, man…just let it go!
RM: You’ll witness a perfect storm of high caliber comedians with a contagious synergy. The material’s well-written and funny because it’s honest, poignant and flat-out funny. Relatable yet ridiculous.
Just once does a legendary staple of comedy turn 50. Be sure to get out to Wolf Trap on March 13th and 14th to witness the Improv sketch comedy group that launched the careers of so many comedians we’ve come to love. Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up like Rachel and grace the Second City stage one day…it all began by going to a show!
Sat. and Sun., March 13-14. Show starts at 7.30 p.m. T ickets are $22.
Wolf Trap: 1551 Trap Rd., Vienna, VA; 703-255-4030; www.wolftrap.org
[googleMap name="Wolf Trap" width="770" height="235" mousewheel="false"]1551 Trap Rd., Vienna, VA[/googleMap]
