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SUMMARY
JUDGMENTS
REVIEWS, REVIEWS, REVIEWS!
The 93rd Annual Bar Show–
“This Case is a Shamilton”
ReviewedBy JasmineV. Hernandez
I
nspired by local and national news
events during the past year, head writ-
ers Cliff Berman and David Miller
breathed new life into the Chicago Bar
Association’s 93rd Annual Bar Show, “This
Case is a Shamilton.” While the Bar Show
always highlights the musical and acting
talents of CBA members,the 93rd Bar
Show incorporated new and classic mate-
rial, as well as featured a more diverse cast,
setting this Bar Show apart from previous
years.
In true Hamilton fashion, Daniel
Campbell kicked the performance off with
a rap that welcomed audience members
to the show while simultaneously teasing
them for only attending since they did
not score tickets to the actual Hamilton
production. After that cast members and
The Company opened the show with a
humorous glimpse inside Chicago poli-
tics in “Read Him His Miranda Rights.”
Attorneys Larry Aaronson, Ron Balfour,
Nyshana Sumner-Dowlen, Stan Slovin,
and Millicent Willis portrayed Rahm
Jasmine V. Hernandez is a
State’sAttorneyandamember
of the CBA Record Editorial
Board.
Emmanuel, Garry McCarthy, Karen
Lewis, Chuy Garcia, and Barbara Byrd-
Bennet, respectively, as the city’s dignitaries
lamented their future.
Next came some great performances
celebrating the Cubs’ World Series win.
In particular was “Heaven in Seven” in
which baseball legends, Joe Maddon, Ernie
Banks, Harray Caray, and Jack Brickhouse
(Danny Teinowitz, Marc Augustave, L.
Steven Platt, Joe Moore, and Jeffrey Marks,
respectively) celebrated the end of a 108
year World Series win drought.
Performances then began to address
more national issues including a media per-
sonality (John King), a CEO (ElonMusk),
a Supreme Court nominee (Merrick
Garland) and the Obama sisters. As Malia
and Sasha, Mghonon Martin and Ebony
Smith, gave a rousing and crowd pleasing
performance as the First Daughters. In “Go
on and miss the girls,” (an adaptation “Go
on and Kiss the Girl” from Disney’s The
Little Mermaid) they sang about their time
living in the White House and what they
look forward to enjoying in private (hang-
ing out with friends and twerking). Most
interesting, during the song Martin and
Smith also quipped that Condoleezza Rice
assuming a political role in the future was
their only avenue of making a Bar Show
appearance again.
Obviously Martin and Smith sang that
line in jest, but that single line pretty much
sums up why I left the 93rd Annual Bar
Show with a smile on my face. For the first
time, that I can recall, the Bar Show writers,
producers and team acknowledged where
their production fell short and poked fun
at themselves
for it. This Bar Show produc-
tion rises above the rest for me because it
highlighted and played to the strengths of
its
entire
diverse cast. It ceased being a fun
holiday show featuring a handful of select
individuals and has evolved into a produc-
tion that better represents and truly draws
upon the talent of its broad membership
base. I can’t wait until next year!
56
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017
This Case is a Shamilton