Windy City Playhouse Presents RECIPE FOR DISASTER Review — Day at the Restaurant Races

The similarities to the Marx Brothers’ Day at the Races doesn’t end there. This is a romp made for comic antics, with only the barest thread of story to hold the action together.  We see escapades from:

• Two man-hungry flirts – one out to swipe free cutlery and glassware, the other a vegan on a quest to build her Instagram following into a paid gig;
• A sous-chef not quite ready for primetime publicity getting thrown into the hot seat, leaving us guessing whether the wrong pills he took were Viagra, Xanax or both;
• A competitor posing as a waiter to steal the recipe for the signature dish, and trash others along the way;
• The Health Inspector pulling out his I-AM-SOMEBODY cue cards to help him man-up, with deep aspirations expressed such as yearning for tranquil bowels.

These and other characters collide as though in a pinball game: often simultaneously in surround-sound-surround-action so that you are immersed in the chaos of what-can-go-wrong-does-go-wrong --- a day at the restaurant races.

Windy City Playhouse Gives A Taste of Immersive Theater

You are part of the story. You’re one of the social media influencers invited to sample the fare on this special night.  We DO get tasty morsels, courtesy of co-writer and famed chef Rick Bayless, as well as splashes of wine as we move from foyer to our cabaret style seating in the open kitchen restaurant. Periodically a gong is sounded, quieting the pandemonium for a bit.  Majestic and uplifting scores then signal the waitstaff processional to begin bringing you the next course announced by the drug-addled sous chef or one of his stand ins.  It’s not a full meal- just a tasting. SPOILER ALERT: the best course, in this writer’s view, is the well-named Chocolate Fantasy dessert brought to you with an up-tempo Klezmer tune.

WHEN:

Open Run

WHERE:

Petterinos
150 North Dearborn
Chicago

TICKETS:

$90+  (including tasting menu and drinks)

For tickets visit the Windy City Playhouse website.

Photos by Emily Madigan (cast headshots) and Kyle Flubacher (production shots)