The musical performances were wonderful, very upbeat even though most of the sold-out crowd was dead. Performers certainly did their best to get people on board, but it was a pretty elderly-skewed theatre crowd so boo. There were a few stories interspersed with songs, and then pretty quickly the show became almost all music, which was a bit disappointing.

There wasn’t anything really groundbreaking in the storytelling, mostly autobiographical recountings of immigrant stories we’ve heard many times, this time in a Ukrainian context. If you’re looking for a subversive or politically-challenging immigrant narrative a la Diaspora Diaries Collective’s “El Funeral”, you’re not going to find it here.

Although some of the musicians moved through the restaurant occasionally, most of the performance stayed locked to the front windows, which was a shame. I had hoped that they would use the space more effectively since performers weren’t limited by the boundaries of a traditional stage.