Hilarious and Impressive! Second City and The Lyric Opera Present Longer! Louder! Wagner! (October 26, 2016)

Longer! Louder! Wagner! is about Richard Wagner writing the Ring, his four-day, fifteen-hour opera masterpiece, in 1848 Germany. The singing by the opera singers is incredibly impressive. They also do a fantastic job with the comedic acting. When Jonah D. Winston sings Part of Your World from Disney’s The Little Mermaid, the entire audience has a huge smile on their face.

Jesse Case does an expert job as the titular Wagner. He plays the operatic pieces fantastically. During a scene when they are describing the process of piecing together such a long play, he plays a small bit of Bon Jovi’s Don’t Stop Believin’. The crowd laughs and the characters instantly dismiss is as not right for this play with a smirk. Along with the German accents, they drop in a few German words: Auf Wiedersehen (Goodbye) and Und (and). Also, all W’s are pronounced like V’s, in German words and English ones too!

The streak continues of striking gold when Second City collaborates with other Chicago institutions. Just see our reviews of The Art of Falling with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Dance for Life with various Chicago dance companies,  and Twist Your Dickens with the Goodman Theatre which is returning this December! See Longer! Louder! Wagner! this weekend for a truly impressive and hilarious performance.

Quinn Delaney