Metro Detroit's improv community is blessed with an abundance of talent, but only two women are known as "The First Ladies of Detroit Improv": Margaret Edwartowski and Nancy Hayden. Longtime veterans of both the main stage and touring companies of The Second City, the mistresses of mirth are back in fine form after an eight-month sojourn performing on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship, and their mid-summer sketch comedy revue at Hamtramck's Planet Ant Theatre, "Bottle of Red: Uncorked," reinforces why they earned that title.
Written and performed under the direction of Shawn Handlon, Edwartowski and Hayden open the show with a series of seemingly unrelated – but very funny – scenes joined together only by a word, phrase or character name. But as the 75-minute production progresses, we discover there's a method to their madness – and a contemporary, yet ancient storyline with recurring characters emerges that leaves you wondering, "How the hell did they come up with THAT?"
What that is, I won't spoil for you. But don't be too quick to assign blame the next time a terrorist incident or natural disaster occurs – especially if it happens in Rochester or Auburn Hills. (The two get confused a lot, you know.)
Where the riotous redheads excel is in the creation of totally unique, immediately recognizable and very comical characters. One minute they're idiot museum burglars whose location is tracked thanks to an emergency 911 cell phone call one of them makes; the next they're the Serenity Sisters, a pair of ugly singers/songwriters who are offered a 10-album deal if they allow the studio's "image makers" to change their name to "VD" and replace them visually with a pair of empty-headed reality show stars.
The biggest laughs, however, are found in multiple visits by two wizards; a pity prom date; and a scene that takes place inside the Eight Mile Clinic, as employees Edwartowski and Hayden dish the dirt about the patients sitting in the waiting room. But be forewarned: Everyone in the audience is fair game!
'Bottle of Red: Uncorked'
Planet Ant Theatre, 2357 Caniff, Hamtramck. Thu.-Sun., through July 28. Tickets: $15. For information: 313-365-4948 or http://www.planetant.com.
