Kenosha! (Not Quite Chicago)

There may just be something for everyone in WhoopDeDoo’s new production, Kenosha! (Not Quite Chicago), playing at the West Side Club in January and February. For those who love Bob Fosse and Liza Minnelli a musical theater parody done as musical theater that starts with the song, All That Cheese, is bound to find an appreciative audience, especially when developed by local impresario Michael Bruno and his writing partner, Tony Reitano.

The play takes aim at Some Like It Hot, Chicago, and Cabaret, as well as musicals in general. The story is that of two out-of-work actors who witness a Chicago mob hit and go on the lam from the Cannoli mob (a reference to Bruno and Reitano’s Sweet-Cannoli Nuptials, which played for five years in Madison). The duo end up disguised as drag queens-- men playing women playing men playing women—in a two-person version of Cabaret at the Kenosha Dinner Theater and Souvenir Shop.

According to Bruno, who also directed, the two lead characters are hired because Tom Wopat backs out to do a run of Follies at the Wisconsin Union Theater in Madison. The on-the-run actors create a “Reader’s Digest Condensed Reduced Shakespeare version” of Cabaret in return for the producer hiding them. Bruno believes that gay audiences will be appreciative of the work, stating that WhoopDeDoo has a good following in the community. Bruno said the cast, which hails from all over Dane County, “is having a blast with it” and he believes the audience will, too.

Kenosha! (Not Quite Chicago) opens on January 17 at the West Side Club, 437 County M, Madison. Ticket prices include dinner and the show. For more information about the play or to make reservations call (608) 442-5806 or visit WhoopDeDoo’s website at www.whoopdedoo.org.