The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By Virginia Ross-Special For The Quill
It was a great night to go to Civic Music; a spectacular sunset blazed in vivid pink, violet, and rose clouds ending two days of pouring rain.
The crowd was larger than the usual turnout and all had come for a good laugh. True, most of us would be labeled "senior citizens;" however, there was a mix of young and "50 somethings."
In fact, the upper most balconies held more audience than usual. The larger crowd was probably due to the recognizable brand, "Second City," known for fostering such legends as Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Joan Rivers, Chris Farley and Stephen Colbert. We were here for a good time.
From the start the group (three men and three women) misread their audience. Their choice of topics were uncomfortable to some even in this enlightened age. What really frustrated me, however, was that I could not understand what they were saying. The music was so loud it drowned out the lines and the microphones hanging from the top of the stage just blurred what was being said.
Did they have some funny skits? Parts and perhaps, the best received was when they asked for audience participation whether it was for impromptu topics woven into a sketches or actually dragging a person on stage to be a part of a scene. Maybe their material was Chicago perfected, but in Burlington, sometimes, it fell flat (remember we couldn't decipher what was being said and the music was loud).
At intermission a considerable portion of the audience gave up and left which was too bad; for the second half seemed to be relatable experiences. We all wanted them to succeed, but judging from comments I heard walking out of the auditorium, my experience was like theirs and they were disappointed.