We often hear that what separates animals from humans is that the former don’t know that they’re going to die. Of course, since we lack the interspecies communications skills of Dr. Dolittle, we can’t really say for sure. But if animals did have awareness of their mortality, a fondness for cabaret and a knack for pseudo-Seussian versifying, they might put on something like “The Anyway Cabaret (an animal cabaret),” now in a world premiere with TUTA Theatre Chicago.
This whimsical-to-a-fault confection, created by Martin Marion and directed by Jacqueline Stone, puts a gaggle of anthropomorphic creatures onstage to sing ditties before the Grim Reaper collects them. A skeptical deer (played with waspish charm by Sean Ewert) serves as the audience stand-in, until he too gets swept up in the need to sing his song.
The problem is that the songs, though delivered with homespun earnestness by the 10-member cast (performers also play a variety of instruments, including banjo and ukulele), just aren’t that memorable. They range from childish scatology and other naughtiness (“Kangaroo Poo,” “Go Duck Yourself”) to cleaner but still-groanworthy disquisitions on “The Sockless Fox” and “A Pig in a Wig.”
The exceptions come when the material gets closest to the issues of mortality. Tanous El-Kareh delivers “A Goat Coat” with the sadness of one who knows he is enjoying his last moments in the spotlight — and on earth — but is going to keep singing, well, anyway. Marsha Harman’s “The Fertile Turtle” provides a Sisyphean portrait of a female who must keep procreating, lest her line die out.
Branamira Ivanova’s costumes and Letitia Guillaud’s props provide clever visual puns (far better than the verbal ones in the songs, in most cases). But with a needless intermission, “The Anyway Cabaret” drags on too long, diluting the initial promise of its Weimar-cabaret-meets-“Romper-Room” premise.
“The Anyway Cabaret (an animal cabaret)”
TWO STARS
Through Nov. 16, Storefront Theater, 66 E. Randolph St., $15 at 800-595-4849 or tutato.com