“Frankenstreisand” reviewed by Frank Meccia

[rating=3]Hell in a Handbag is known for producing some great comic shows and cabaret. And this time they moved their show to a new venue the Raven Room at Redline VR (The VR stands for Virtual Reality). This World premiere is written by Ensemble member Tyler Anthony Smith, who also stars  as Dr. Barbra Frankenstreisand, Babs hasn’t had a performance in 27 years since her dog , Samantha suddenly died. And after this long absence, she is determined to clone her dog on stage, with the help of her loyal assistance the Hunchback played by Dakota Hughes, and her vampy German stage manager Frau Fraulein played by Brian Shaw.

Dakota is a natural in this role. Being handless they move around coming up with new ideas to clone the dog, and at the same time break out in song. Their voice is wonderful,. Remember last year Dakota was  in Kinky Boots at the Paramount Theatre, and really gave the show the needed punch to work. Tyler Anthony Smith was dead on as Babs’, she nailed the hair, the moves and the voice. All the songs words were changed to fit this script, and probably to prevent the wrath of the real Streisand. Guest stars during her show were Judy Garland and Celine Dion and Lainie Kazan, played by ensemble member, the wonderful Elizabeth Lesinski.

If you kept the show with just these characters you have a great 90 minutes, but somehow the playwright stepped over the line with this production. I understand when looking over the audience the majority are under 40, and maybe they can find humor in joking about 9-11, but to a majority of people, and to those of us who lost friends, that is still a topic that does not need to be made into humor.

Nicky Mendelsohn as Barry Gibb was perfect, nailing the moves and the high voice, but then they paired you with Ryan Oates who was great in Golden Girls as Rose, but tonight as the dog walker, Chuck, and Stefani, again crossed a line with me, which I won’t talk about, no need to give away everything in the show. And Robert Williams does a perfect Miss “O”. The show does play homage well to other productions of Hell in a Handbag, and has some great potential, if you make some minor corrections, but I do give it a recommend.

Frankenstreisand is playing till Oct 31st with performances as follows:

Friday and Saturday at 9:15pm.

There will not be a Saturday Oct 8th performance, but there will be a Halloween performance on the 31st at 7:30.

Ticket price is $25 advance general admission, $30 at the door, $40 VIP/reserved seating with a drink. Group rates $21 for 10 or more. Tickets available at handbagproductions.org

Industry night October 10 at 7:30.

Redline VR is located at 4702 N. Ravenswood in Chicago

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Frankenstreisand”