THEATRE REVIEW: "Friends! The Musical Parody" at the Broadway Playhouse (Chicago, IL)

      On February 23rd, 2019, I saw a performance of "Friends! The Musical Parody" at the Broadway Playhouse in Chicago, IL.  This production was the North American Tour and was playing at the Broadway Playhouse for a three-week engagement.  The original off-Broadway production began previews on October 13th, 2017, and officially opened on October 29th of that year.  It only ran until December 31st, 2017.  




     While this wasn't the best show I have ever seen (not by a long shot), I did laugh out loud a few times.  The actress who played Rachel did a great, though exaggerated, Jennifer Aniston impression.  She kept making these worried vocal noises between her lines that had me in stitches.  At the time I saw the show, I had never seen Vanessa Bayer's impression on SNL.  I should also mention that my standards for the production were pretty low.   This was the first show I won the ticket lottery for, and I wasn't expecting a thought-provoking night at the theatre.


   
     
   
    Unfortunately, I did not keep the playbill from this show, so I don't know who starred in the production.  I checked the website for the tour, and it looks like it stopped running in 2020 due to the pandemic.  The website had cast information. But I don't know if it is the same cast that performed in Chicago.  Even though the show got a bad review in the Tribune, the audience was enthusiastic and laughing along with the show the night I saw it.  They probably got more of the jokes, and understood more of the references than I did.  I hardly watched the TV show. 




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