Chicago Tribune - Highly Recommended
"...Obama as malleable slate for liberal hopes and dreams is the uber text of "Between Barack and a Hard Place," the funniest mainstage show on Wells Street in several years. And in one drop-dead-funny sketch late in the show, that leaves a frustrated Hillary (as played with buttoned-down veracity by the pitch-perfectly geeky Molly Erdman) stuck desperately learning how to be loved. As Erdman plays Hillary, her sincere, recognizable attempt to forge a likable laugh comes out mostly as a series of demonic gurgles."
Chicago Sun Times - Recommended
"...Not surprisingly, terrorism remains a hot topic; it is deftly dealt with in a perfectly cutting sketch that looks at the way TV journalists often reveal the most vulnerable U.S. targets, and in the process, practically supply potential saboteurs with something resembling a how-to manual."
Daily Herald - Recommended
"...Second City sends up Illinois' junior senator in its 94th revue featuring requisite jabs at pop culture and politics."
SouthtownStar - Highly Recommended
"...Directed by Matt Hovde, with additional contributions by Joe Canale and Brad Morris, this is a special production not to be missed. Its insightful honesty in skewering much of our society's lies and pretense makes it a jaw-dropping riot that stands out as the best of Second City."
Windy City Times - Recommended
"...A scant few of the sketches in Barack don’t work—A one-joke bit about Slovenia is flat-out stupid and a skit about television anchors providing terrorists with all kinds of valuable security secrets is predictable. But overall excellence eclipses these brief lulls of mediocrity. One can only imagine what the troupe here will offer up once the election season really gets going."
Chicago Free Press - Recommended
"...More political than past presentations, with fewer hit-and-run sight gags followed by blackouts, the sketches succeed more often than flop. The most original depicts a very Chicago-style audio tour of the Art Institute: The tippling tour guide fails to be impressed by one more haystack by “Monn-et,” while, as the befuddled art patron, Brad Morris’ reactions are a study in frozen cluelessness."
Gay Chicago Magazine - Recommended
"...As always, this formula of 70 percent pertinent social content and 30 percent relationship scenes spaced in the program just right seems to be working fine. If this works for you, head out to see another fine cast deliver some tried and true comedy. You won’t be disappointed. I, however, need to see something new soon. The elements are in place and poised for some serious creativity in this group of six actors."
