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'Chicago' production is as good as it gets
(by Herb Hammer - June 22, 2011)
THEATER, BY HERB HAMMER
'Chicago' production is as good as it gets
From the very moment the trumpet whines the opening number, "All That Jazz," be assured "Chicago" will carry you into a time when life was raucous and roaring. Those who have witnessed this terrific Kander and Ebb musical at any time will find the Porthouse Theatre production of "Chicago" to be as good as it gets.
It was 1975 when composer John Kander and Fred Ebb's highly charged musical took Broadway by storm. Based on the Maurine Dallas Watkins play, Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb rewrote the book and brought John Kander in to do the score.
With Mr. Fosse's delicious choreography, the show at Porthouse on the grounds of Blossom Music Center, with the guidance of director Terri Kent, will blow you away.
"Chicago" takes us back to the mid-1920s, when criminals were more famous than silent film stars, when corruption was a popular pastime and when the fictional Roxie Hart just might have shot her estranged boyfriend and begged her lame-brained husband to take the rap.
The blending of story, song and dance with marvelous orchestrations bring the show to life along with never-ending laughs.
Roxie Hart, the frustrated star who hopes someday to have her own show, finds herself in jail, along with the already famous Velma Kelly, awaiting trial for killing her sister and her husband.
According to the book, the newest headline-grabbing, murderous female takes the town by storm, pushing former popular killers aside.
Now Roxie's hot and Velma's not. This is where the snappy lawyer Billy Flynn comes in to talk the jury into getting his murderous clients off.
The script is tidy and unusually funny. As song and dance are tightly woven into the plot, it's easy to see why the show has remained so popular.
It's clear early on that choreographer Mary Ann Black isn't blessed with the kind of dancers Bob Fosse had in the Broadway version. You won't recognize any of this as Fosse choreography. But Miss Black does wonders with what she has.
And, as Roxie Hart, the same Miss Black is a knockout. She has it all. She can sing, she's a natural comic, and she can dance with the best of them.
Not to be outdone, Sandra Emerick, with a voice to kill for, is a spectacular Velma Kelly. Her comedy is more subtle yet is funny enough to keep the show on a roll.
Erick van Baars may not have the tongue-in-cheek suave elegance of Richard Gere, of the Academy Award-winning movie version of "Chicago," but he does the part with an offbeat twinkle and doesn't let the show down for a moment.
Laugh getter Timothy Culver, as Roxie's gullible auto mechanic husband, is right on, and Dylan Ratell, as Mary Sunshine, is one big surprise package.
The only disappointment is Melissa Owens, as matron Mama Morton. Miss Owens is a fine performer but is miscast in a part that should take over the stage when she is on.
Porthouse, the giant arena, is just the right place to do this show. Technically, "Chicago" on this stage just couldn't get much better. Conductor Jonathan Swoboda is nothing short of amazing at the piano. He doubles as the announcer.
Accolades to Terri Kent, who has put together a wonderful staging of a nonstop winner. See "Chicago." You'll love it.
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