1812 Productions presents This Is The Week That Is: 20th Anniversary Special

It’s difficult to review a variety show; by definition, it’s a collection of smaller segments. This year’s show scores with its production numbers about the general social climate, but flattens when it competes with late night for timely news snark.

A reliably funny cast

The cast of six is reliably funny. It’s hard to pick a standout: Pax Ressler and Connor McAndrews keep popping up to tie the sketches together; Newton Buchanan had a way of being unpredictable every time he appears; Robyn Unger is uncanny at impersonations; Lexi Thammavong is mercurial, playing maybe the widest variety of roles; and Lee Minora emerges over the evening as the master of one-liners.

But the execution of the songs and physical comedy pinpoint the format’s problem. When 1812 is competing with nightly pundits, there is, logistically, no way to keep up in a show people will only see once a year. Many of the topical jokes feel like something anyone in the audience could have come up with on their way to the theater. The ICE sketches, hopefully, will be rewritten. The field is wide open for local political topics, yet, on opening night, there were mild asides about Mayor Parker and the Sixers stadium debacle and only one reference to SEPTA. (I desperately need a song about burning train cars, unpredictable cancellations, and math-resistant funding.)

Music, monologue, and missed opportunity

The production numbers work much better: The Back to the Future set piece is very clever. While Jen Childs is not part of the cast this year, her character Patsy makes an appearance, with a South Philly version of The Night Before Christmas that should be a holiday tradition. The first act closes with a clever Wicked parody that ties the Emerald City green to the Eagles “Defying Gravity” in the Superbowl. This may be the strongest segment of the evening.

The second act is largely a standard news-desk monologue. Lee Minora, in her first appearance as the anchor, is engaging and funny. However, the segment does not need to take up most of the second act. It might work better at this length as part of a monthly cabaret, or even as a sendup of anchors. Beyond some opening remarks, there is no retrospection on the last 20 years; they might be saving that for the cast reunion show on December 15. There is one news-desk reference to next year’s Semiquincentennial, which seems a missed opportunity for a second-act number.

A happy audience

Colin McIlvine’s set is an LED skyline of the city, with a few screens tucked in for prerecorded segments and what seems to be an outline of a polar bear replacing Billy Penn on City Hall, which works much better than you would expect. The news desk reveals a very funny sight gag built into it. Asaki Kurama meets a checklist of costume design challenges without a stumble, switching from Ressler’s stunning gown at the opening to a pack of Eagles fans and even a full Sesame Street Muppet sendup, which, frankly, is the high point of that sketch.

Yet, it must be said, the audience laughed quite a lot. The truth is the audience likes these performers. They could spend two hours singing about puffins and the crowd would still have a good time.

When the evening wraps with the cast harmonizing on Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” Thammavong’s vocals leave you wanting more of that in the show.

On December 15, there’s a one-night-only reunion show featuring past cast members. And throughout the run, you can check out a small but strong exhibition of local work from The Photo League in the basement lounge of Plays and Players.