Review: ROME SWEET ROME at Chicago Shakespeare Theater

ROME SWEET ROME, the latest production from the Q Brothers Collective at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, has a cool concept: JULIUS CAESAR, but make it hip hop. Like the group’s previous endeavors, the show takes a classic Shakespeare play and updates it with modern sensibilities. The resulting show, though, is really on the nose, both in terms of parallels to the current political climate (here, Caesar is an authoritarian leader who loves the sound of his own voice) and in the writing itself.

While I could tell the material was striving for HAMILTON, the rhyme scheme and concepts were more akin to SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK. I wanted the material to go deeper and for the lyrics themselves to be more sophisticated. I was more mildly amused by ROME SWEET ROME than thoroughly captivated. 

In this version of JULIUS CAESAR, Caesar’s coup-inciting act is banning bread from the city of Rome. It’s a clever idea — and the script tries to infuse a body positive message in light of that banning of carbs — but it’s also surface level. Likewise, I thought the rhymes in the songs were simple. I appreciate that the Q Brothers sent up a number of iconic hip-hop songs (and, of course, embedded many Shakespearean references).

Luckily, the Chicago ensemble is game and sells the material for all its worth — that’s probably in part because three of the four Q Brothers appear in the show. Postell Pringle (Pos) is convincingly vain as Caesar himself. As Brutus, Victor Musoni has the great comedic timing I loved from him earlier this year in Goodman Theatre’s production of FAT HAM, but this role wasn’t as meaty. I love seeing Bri Sudia on any stage and would listen to her sing the phone book, and she’s delightful as Caesar’s wife Purney. Sudia does some of her signature character acting here. Janyce Caraballo, Danielle Davis, Jax, Cage Sebastian Pierre, Maya Vinice Prentiss, JQ, and Jonathan Shaboo round out the ensemble. I think this ensemble handled the group numbers nicely. 

All in all, I liked the idea of ROME SWEET ROME more than the execution. I think the Q Brothers needed to dig a little deeper when it came to thematic parallels to the present and the hip-hop songwriting. 

ROME SWEET ROME plays the Courtyard Theater at Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier, 800 East Grand Avenue, through October 19.