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Listings for Friday, January 5, through Thursday, January 11, 2001
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TOUCHED BY AN ANGLO
Most comedy revues
devote a portion of the program to topical subjects, but ¡Salsation! gives even
facile premises intelligence and insight. In a quiz show entitled "Who Wants to Be an American Citizen?"
the prizes include visa extensions and green cards, and in "Judge Booty" the bench comments on the marital
dissatisfaction caused by mainstream icons. Barrio standards of beauty are later mocked in two musical numbers,
"Fantasia Latin Man" and "Hoochie Mama," the latter performed by the "Wetback Street Boyz."
But what's best about the humor in Touched by an Anglo is that
it transcends cultural boundaries while retaining its unique Latin flavor. The title skit not only spoofs the popular
TV series but becomes a parable of ethnic tolerance, and universal concerns underlie both a soliloquy by a farmer
seeking computer literacy in order to keep pace with his children and a scene in which two old folks compare infirmities.
The Second City, Donny's Skybox Studio, Piper's Alley, 1608 N. Wells (fourth floor), 312-337-3992. Through January
26: Fridays, 10 PM. $10. --Mary Shen Barnidge |
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