Mrs. Gruber's Ding Dong School at Gorilla Tango Theater

November 1, 12:05 PMChicago Performing Arts ExaminerLee Klawans

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All Photos by Lee Klawans

Mrs. Gruber's Ding Dong School presented by Robot vs. Dinosaur is running at Gorilla Tango Theater.  The premise is kinda secret and I won't spoil it for you.  Let's just say that Mrs. Gruber is hiding something.  Rebecca Levine is outstanding as Mrs. Gruber.  She plays a romper room style kindergarten teacher and speaks to the audience throughout the show and tells us that "Using your imagination is like recess in your head".  The group of writers that make up Robot vs. Dinosaur must have been on a long recess when they wrote this show!  It is about 12 scenes long and each one is funnier than the one before it, building into a chaos filled, hilarious ending.  All kinds of visitors come through the school and the kids are wildly entertained. There were many many fine scenes.  In one, the (drunken)man in the yellow hat from Curious George played by Conner Tillman visits Mrs. Gruber's school and auditions new monkeys because George has left him.  He interviews a series of monkeys that are not curious enough until he find a very curious one in a wheel chair!  In another scene, Andrew Kraft as a sad, disillusioned cloud, decides he wants to be a racist.  He and his cloud friend, played by Erin Morrill,  visit Whitey the racist (Conner Tillman), and learn some hatred.  Whitey sings a very funny, awkward racist learnin' song that ends with "You don't gotta rhyme if you're telling the truth!"  Andrew's sad cloud turns into an evil cackling hate filled rain cloud. One more great scene was a puppet, worked by Kraft explaining to the kids that you don't need to know how to read to have a fulfilling life.  He goes on to introduce folks from all walks of life that can't read.  There are too many other laugh filled bits to report and the entire cast was top notch.  I recommend that you go see Mrs. Gruber.  She can teach you to have a great night at Gorilla Tango Theater, 1919 N Milwaukee ave.  Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm through November 21st, 2009.