DREAMS REALLY DO COME TRUE! (AND OTHER LIES) written and performed by Ashley Comeau, Jason DeRosse, Nigel Downer, Alastair Forbes, Inessa Frantowski and Carly Heffernan, directed by Kerry Griffin. Presented by the Second City (55 Mercer). Now in previews, opens Tuesday (August 30) for a limited run, Wednesday-Saturday 8 pm, late night Saturday 10:30 pm, Sunday 7 pm. $24-$29. 416-343-0011. See listing.
Second City’s latest revue is called Dreams Really Do Come True! (And Other Lies), but at least one of the four new cast members isn’t buying that snarky attitude.
“This may sound corny, but dreams really do come true. It’s not a lie,” says Ashley Comeau.
She should know. Back in 2007, Comeau landed a job at the legendary comedy institution as a host (the person who seats you, not someone in front of a mic) and then gradually worked her way up the ladder to bartender, box office clerk and admin assistant before doing voice work and children’s shows.
Now she’s on the mainstage, which was always her dream.
“I knew that as long as I was in, I could see what was going on, how Second City worked from all angles and could try to figure out how to get onstage,” she says in one of the theatre’s second-floor offices.
Of course, seating people and serving drinks allowed her to see the show every night, which was its own kind of training.
“I got to see how a scene worked really well one night and maybe not so well the next,” says Comeau, who was also doing her own sketch via her comedy duo Lusty Mannequins. “And I could see why. So from the sidelines I learned how to do a show.”
New mainstage cast member Jason DeRosse took the more typical route to the Second City Mainstage, studying at the conservatory, writing and performing for the touring company and understudying several revues, all while working on a series of solid sketch troupes like Mantown, the Sketchersons and PB & J and taping dozens of lucrative TV commercials.
“I don’t think you’re here unless that’s your goal,” he says, about making the mainstage. “In the end, there are six jobs, and a lot of people who want them.”
The pair, joined by newcomers Alastair Forbes and Nigel Downer as well as returning mainstagers Inessa Frantowski and Carly Heffernan, can’t talk about the show in much detail because, less than two weeks before opening, it hasn’t been finalized.
“But there’s a lot of dark comedy,” says DeRosse. “We’re showing you what you dream about and then the lie that undercuts it.”
No one in the current ensemble is married or has kids – which is a bit of a change from previous casts.
“So that’s going to give the show a different perspective,” says Comeau. “In my life, I’m dealing with different issues, like Do I settle down or not?'”
“And there won’t be a scene where we’re at Shoppers Drug Mart at 4 am looking for something [for a sick baby],” says DeRosse, referring to a classic Second City sketch he understudied a couple of years ago.
“They’re letting us be a little edgier this time because there are so many new members,” says DeRosse. “They’re allowing us to stretch our minds.”
Sounds like a dream job to me.
Interview Clips
Jason DeRosse on the makeup of the new cast:
DeRosse and Ashley Comeau on a Second City cast bonding experience at Great Wolf Lodge that went awry:
Comeau on her kind of absurd humour:
DeRosse and Comeau on their all-time favourite Second City sketches:
glenns@nowtoronto.com
