

Set in the 1920s, Chicago was written in the 1970s and only really became a megahit when it was revived in the 1990s on Broadway. Steve Ross playing Amos Hart, Roxie’s long-suffering husband, is the only one really allowed to command the stage with stillness in his sweet and funny Mr. They Both Reached for the Gun and Razzle Dazzle’s splashy choreography leave you clapping but then wondering: Wait, what was that song about? Ironically, both the big numbers involving Flynn – played by a surprisingly understated Dan Chameroy – get flummoxed by her flim-flam. There are a couple of moments in Feore’s production where showbiz does swallow the story. She and Preston make a fine double-act and sometimes even seem like doppelgangers in Dana Osborne’s costuming (which is wonderful for the women, but a bit too Guys and Dolls for the men). Rider-Shaw, somehow now in her 12th season at Stratford, has graduated from ingenues and brings an appropriate level of grizzle to the vaudevillian Velma (who toured in a sister act until she killed her sister). The increasingly frightening fierceness in their expression made me think of the John Updike line: “Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face.” Their Roxie seems not just hungry for fame, but utterly ravenous for it. Preston (whose pronouns are they/she) is downright magnetic in the role – giving a satirically sexy, and often subversive performance. The musical follows frustrated chorine Roxie Hart on her Jazz Age journey through a corrupt American justice system after she shoots her lover dead.
RAZZLE DAZZLE CHICAGO HOW TO
Under the tutelage of prison matron Mama Morton (a splendidly arch Sandra Caldwell) and fellow inmate Velma Kelly (Jennifer Rider-Shaw), Roxie learns how to use her feminine wiles to wiggle out of a guilty verdict and toward media-circus-fuelled celebrity.
RAZZLE DAZZLE CHICAGO MOVIE
Her in-your-face, look-at-me production, however, might just be the right one for now, a time when the fame-hungry can post their own thirst traps on Instagram and TikTok and don’t need to manipulate the press to become a star.Ĭhicago, which was turned into an Oscar-winning movie in 2002, follows frustrated chorine Roxie Hart (Chelsea Preston) on her Jazz Age journey through a corrupt American justice system after she shoots her lover dead. Or, for that matter, that of original star Ann Reinking when she created choreography that followed in Fosse’s footsteps for the 1996 Broadway revival (which is still running in New York – and just concluded a stint starring Pamela Anderson).įosse compelled your attention with a flip of a wrist Feore, by contrast, guns for yours with backflips.

This is not legendary choreographer Bob Fosse’s seductive, come-to-me approach to the show (the book of which he co-wrote with Ebb). Tickets purchased for any show through Januwill be able to be refunded or exchanged for any other date until two hours before the performance.Donna Feore's production of Chicago is running at the Festival Theatre in Stratford, Ont., until Oct.

Exact regulations are still to be determined. Additionally, audience members may need to provide proof of vaccination or negative Covid test. The opening date is subject to the approval of the New York State Department of Health and the Governor, and the production anticipates that masks will be required for all patrons and front-of-house staff. The production, Broadway's longest-running American musical, marks its 25th anniversary in November. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago's slickest criminal lawyer to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today's tabloids. This triumphant hit musical is the recipient of six Tony. The production features set design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by Tony Award winner William Ivey Long, lighting design by Tony Award winner Ken Billington, sound design by Scott Lehrer and casting by Stewart/Whitley.Ĭhicago is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Theater - Theres never been a better time to experience CHICAGO, Broadways razzle-dazzle smash. With a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb, Chicago is directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by the late Ann Reinking. Just in time to celebrate its 25th anniversary, the long-running revival of Chicago will resume its run at the Ambassador Theatre on Tuesday, September 14.
