‘Chicago’ an entertaining, inspired Roaring ‘20s romp
“Chicago” opens with a spotlight on a lone chorus girl, dressed in a sheer black, Victoria’s-Secret-like nothing.
From two rows behind me came a male voice: “I’m already enjoying this.”
And chances are, he continued to enjoy it for the next 2 1/2 hours, because this national touring version of “Chicago” is a deliriously entertaining romp through Roaring ‘20s decadence.
A stage full of athletic bodies in black underwear – I mean, costumes – perform raucous number after raucous number of expertly choreographed vaudeville shtick and Jazz Age jive.
“Chicago” goes way beyond the merely titillating, of course. Creators Bob Fosse, John Kander and Fred Ebb have crafted a sly and cynical look at the American obsession with celebrity and criminal notoriety.
The two main characters, Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, are both two-bit showgirls who not only get away with murder, but consider it a career boost. Throw in a cynical, media-savvy lawyer, Billy Flynn, and the themes seem right up to date.
You know all of this if you have seen the Oscar-winning movie. The triumph of the movie was not that it was better than the stage version, but that it sufficiently captured its exhilarating energy.
And this touring cast, including many veterans of the Broadway run, deliver an absolutely top-drawer version.
Michelle DeJean plays Roxie with a kind of half-loopy glee that is impossible not to share. She’ll make you forget Renee Zellweger.
Terra C. MacLeod has a thrilling alto voice, perfect for the tough-broad Velma, and an athletic stage presence. Both actresses demonstrate world-class singing and dancing skills.
Gregory Harrison (of “Trapper John, M.D.” and “Falcon Crest” fame) proves to be a talented song-and-dance man as well. Even more crucial, his deadpan cynicism is just right for Billy Flynn. Harrison looks at the audience with a mask of innocence, as if to say, “What? Me crooked?”
Carol Woods, as Mama the Matron, brought the house down with a knockout version of “When You’re Good to Mama.” And Ron Orbach managed the feat of being both riveting and diffident as the sad-sack Amos, in the number “Mister Cellophane.”
I love the fact that the “Chicago” orchestra is in full view for the entire show, on risers at the back of the stage. And the Kander-and-Ebb music, with its wah-wah trumpets and sliding trombones, has a midnight-at-the-speakeasy quality.
In this viewing, I was particularly struck by the inspired level of storytelling in the musical numbers. In “Cell Block Tango,” a stage full of murderesses re-enact their crimes; in “We Both Reached for the Gun,” Flynn manipulates Roxie like a puppet; in “All I Care About,” Billy proclaims his altruism while surrounded by fan-dancing chorines.
In fact, “Chicago” was originally called “Chicago: A Musical Vaudeville,” and was conceived by Fosse as a series of homages and spoofs of old vaudeville routines. The fan-dancing routine came from Sally Rand; “All That Jazz” was modeled after Texas Guinan’s nightclub act; “When You’re Good to Mama” is modeled after Sophie Tucker; and “Me and My Baby” is like an Eddie Cantor cakewalk.
So “Chicago” draws on an entire century of American show biz, but you don’t need to know that to enjoy it. You just have to sit back and let “All That Jazz” wash right over you.