Theater of Improbable Frequency

The heart of Chicago theater is not in the palaces of the loop. With equal number, if at some occasions small to mid-sized theaters and performance halls than New York City, Chicago reigns in talent hungry to hone their skills. Though my Ally would be right in admitting that New York’s Broadway and London’s West End is the gold at the end of the rainbow, theater in Chicago isn’t viewed out of the mere fortune that we live in a culture-less area – we are the culture, with plenty of great shows to boot.

For years I have been journeying down to the city to watch shows in which my oldest friend, Mike Przygoda, has lend his musical talent to. So when he floats a text my way before my Wednesday night Humanities class at Harper with the offer of two preview tickets to his new show, Improbable Frequency at Strawdog Theater, a man wouldn’t be foolish to resist – especially since he has to save so much for a wedding in one year’s time. 

For years I’ve admired Mike’s musical commitment to multitudes of Chicago theaters. This is on top of his duties to students at The Chicago High School for the Arts on the South Side as well as being a company member of Barrel of Monkeys – oh and did I mention he runs his small label, Speed-Fi? The man doesn’t get sleep anyway. 

Another feather in his cap to another theater he is company member at is Strawdog Theater at 3829 N. Broadway in Chicago where Mike serves as Musical Director and Orchestrator for the musical comedy Improbable Frequency. Set in Dublin of the neutral to World War Two Irish Free-State (still under some British influence) in the early 1940’s, this tale of a rather uncommon and uptight English crossword artist Tristam Faraday turned spy gets raveled up in a game of intrigue with code words on Irish radio broadcasts that might in fact be helping the Nazi’s deliver weapons to the disgruntled and violent Irish Republican Army. Along the way our spy Mr Faraday (nice nod to English scientist Michael Faraday) crosses paths and romantic glances with the charming yet goofy Philomena O’Shea who appears to be up to her own games of deception. 

To say that Strawdog company members Michael Dailey as Faraday (doing his best Rex Harrison impression) and Sarah Goeden as Philomena (a wiz with comic timing and voice) are the only good parts of the show would have only resulted if the audience was only awake for their parts. Scott Danielson showed great range in switching from a bumbling Englishman, to Myles the poetic Irish alky-barfly, to the violent I.R.A man Muldoon. Jason Grimm leaves you tickled with his Hi-ti-di-te Irish accent of broadcaster O’Dromedary and positively Faulty Towers-esque English agent named John Betjeman. Christina Hall as Agent Green provides what Marlene Dietrich only wish she could have done with an English accent. Eric Paskey was a tad flat with the Colonel but was delightful as the overly sexed mad scientist version of the famous German scientist Erwin Schrodinger. 

In a cramped space off to the side of the stage, Mike leads his other musicians in music that as he told me, “had to be transcribed and learned without any sheet music.” Considering how tight the music was with the timing of the musical numbers (and there are a lot of cues for the small black box cavern style stage that is Strawdog) I applaud Mike for leading the musicians in using their ears to do the work of making the tunes of Improbable Frequency come alive. 

The show last night was the wrap-up of preview performances before the premiere tonight. Ironing out the kinks of missed cues, lighting and music bits is what Mike and the cast did right after the show. I’ll admit with the accents flying and the dry Anglo-Irish humor that even for a man like myself who lived in Ireland that I had a few moments where I found it difficult to follow along. The second act is a bit weaker than the first, most of all I think because of the Dr Who meets Mystery Science Theater 3000 in a musical sequence in Schrodinger’s lab with the Probability Machine, a device that effects space-time. 

Director Kyle Hamman notes that Improbable Frequency is “full of comedic bits, vocal cartwheels, and a quick step or two, (the show) is a wacky word-lay musical on the surface but keep your ear to the ground and you’ll pick up on something much more complex.” Take a chance on Strawdog Theater in their 25^th year, even if you are surrounded by hipsters that as Ally noted were “all drinking PBR while we are drinking Woodchuck.” Trust me, unlike with the Pabst you will be cool enough to see the delight that is Improbable Frequency.  

http://www.strawdog.org/