On The 20th Century is a riotous, musical extravaganza.

On May 14, the blank Theatre Company opened their production of ON THE 20^th CENTURY in the brand-new Bramble Arts Loft in Andersonville to a packed house.

Their venue was the intimate Berry, a black box with perfectly designed sound and lighting. On first glance, it seemed too small a space for a classic, larger than life American musical. The show debuted on Broadway in 1978, in the golden days of American Musical Theater. The book and lyrics are by the legendary Betty Comden and Adolph Green (On the Town, Singing in the Rain), and the music by Cy Coleman (Sweet Charity, Will Rogers Follies). It’s everything a musical should be: big, loud, silly and sharp. The Berry must be a magic clown car because somehow, a packed house and a boisterous cast of twelve all fit comfortably inside and had a rousing good time.

The staging was minimal – a large arch with red curtains graced one side of the room, and the audience lined along the other three sides. Props and costumes were carefully period creating a pared down yet distinct place and time. The only set changes were done with two chairs, some luggage, and a few handheld items like purses, posters, books, etc. Instead of fantastic, over the top sets, the cast filled the space with their song, their spirit and their obvious joy in their work.

The story is a classic Romantic Comedy, straight out of the birth of that genre: His Girl Friday meets I Love You Again meets at least half the movies starring Bing Crosby. Frankly, it’s a love letter to all of the above, and several of the classic tropes, like the warring couple who profess hate but secretly mean love, the eccentric millionaire and the bumbling sidekicks.

While there are no stand-out melodies, the songs are all well-crafted, funny and excellently sung. It is a modern Opera, with the requisite recitative, complicated quartets, counter melodies, bombastic duets and arias galore. The entire cast shares polished, operatically trained voices that really shined in this setting. A favorite recurring joke was a “holy chorus” that popped out of the wings and bathed us all in harmony, another was a recurring melody of random citizens pushing their plays on producer Jaffe.

The standout for this show however, aside from excellent, operatic voices and some truly hilarious physical comedy, was the choreography. Jen Cupani, Danny Kapinos, and Tony Pellegrino created a thing of beauty in what seemed an impossible space. Each scene was tightly choreographed, like a dance, but without much actual dancing; rooms changed, people came in and out, actors hid and surprised each other in a space roughly the size of a luxury walk-in closet. Somehow, it never felt crowded or impossible. The imaginations of the actors and the careful planning of the Creative Team transformed said closet into a moving train in the 1930s, and the precise movements around the space were overall a marvel of planning.

Karylin Veres especially shone as Lily Garland, an extremely difficult vocal role debuted by Madeline Kahn – who quit due to vocal exhaustion! Veres pulls it off perfectly, tossing out high C’s and trills like the pro she is – she even made it look easy – especially when singing seated, or lifted or draped. DeTogne as Jaffe also manages to sing a lovely operatic tenor solo while lying flat on his back: no easy feat. Rothbart and Arceo make a perfect comic duo and occasional straight men to DeTogne. Christopher Johnson, Rothbart and Arceo all met the challenge of playing straight men to the bombastic performances going on around them nicely; it’s easy to forget that without the straight man, we’re just watching a room full of nuts – those moments of disbelief and frustration they portray gives the audience something to relate to and laugh even harder when everything goes off the rails.

If gorgeous, trained singing, high physical comedy and sharp dialogue sound like a good time, you can’t go wrong with this production.

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Alina C. Hevia

All photos credited to Kelsey Decker/Wannabe Studio

Presented at the Bramble Arts Loft at 5545 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60640 in Andersonville, and running Thursday – Sunday, as well as Monday, June 3, through June 9, 2024.

Tickets for ON THE 20th CENTURY are $15.00 – $35.00 and can be purchased online at www.blanktheatrecompany.com.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.