(l-r) Randall Harr, Amber Nash, Anthony Irons, Amy Roeder and Steven Westdahl in a sketch from the The Second City: Peach Drop, Stop and Roll. Photo by Greg Mooney.
When you live in a city known for being number one for toxicity, the longest commutes and a reputation for botching the Olympics, well – you just gotta laugh.
Which is exactly what we did for two hours as the talented ensemble from The Second City skewered my beloved hometown in “Peach, Drop Stop and Roll” at the Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Stage.
Loosely centered around the “mildly popular” Peach Drop held each year on New Year’s Eve in Underground Atlanta, this series of sketches is primarily Atlanta-focused, with jabs at locals such as Matt Ryan, Tom Sullivan, Clark Howard and Shirley Franklin’s flower. References abound to institutions ranging from Rich’s to the Ping Pig and the Clermont Lounge, which warranted its own skit of a dancer using her assets to crush beer cans.
The history of transportation in Atlanta was portrayed in a very clever take-off from Gilbert & Sullivan’s “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.” An office staffs’ misguided attempts to celebrate Kwaanza with their African-American boss was another crowd favorite. And of course, the “real” housewives of Atlanta got their due in a hilarious skit.
The Segway Tour of Atlanta, with the perky tour guide winding her way through the aisle of the small theater, managed to take in sites in our city depicted by the other actors, which included a common site of empty buildings next to non-operational fountains and a particularly realistic view of the fountain at Centennial Olympic Park.
My favorite joke, which seemed to garner the most audience reaction, was about our beleaguered AJC, but I won’t reveal it here as I strongly urge everyone to go see this show. We all could use a laugh these days, and this one provides them non-stop as the writers perfectly captured what we love, and what we hate, about Atlanta.
Alliance Theatre, through December 13.
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