By Sandi Masori
SAN DIEGO — Should you wander into the Broadway San Diego performance of Chicago, and couldn’t hear the iconic songs, you might think that you were seeing Cabaret instead. With no sets per se other than a giant bandstand in the middle of the stage, and simple black chairs that move around to be everything from the jail cell to the courtroom, it looks very different than the original 1975 production, which according to some of the cast had a more standard set design.
For those unfamiliar with the multi-award winning show by Jewish playwright Fred Ebb, and Bob Fosse with music by John Kandor, or the 2002 movie version starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere and Queen Latifah, it’s set in, as the title suggests, Chicago in the late 1920s. We follow the story of two murderesses; Roxie Hart (Katie Frieden) and Velma Kelly (Kaitlin Brown) and their sensational murder trials. Being that it’s set in the roaring 20s which didn’t have modern day social media, the flashy and charismatic and lawyer Billy Flynn (Connor Sullivan) is able to manipulate the press and jury with wild and conflicting stories about his clients, or as he calls it razzle-dazzle, in his attempts to acquit his client.
This production really punches up the bawdiness and vaudeville styling more than any other version I’ve seen. The characters are all dressed scantily throughout the show with no real costume changes to speak of.
Having the giant bandstand on stage leads to some interesting effects. The incredibly talented orchestra, and especially conductor Cameron Blake Kinnear, becomes as much a part of the show as any of the actors. In some scenes Roxie breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to both Kinnear and the audience. It also pushes the entire on-stage action downstage. This can be both good and bad, as there are several scenes on the far edges of the stage, and if you have a large person, wide person, with big hair sitting a couple of rows in front of you, as I did, you may have some visibility issues with the edges of the stage. On the other hand, it makes the entire performance feel more intimate and nightclubby.
Huge kudos to the choreographer and dancers for an incredibly energetic and tight series of dance numbers. It’s an old-school Rockettes type of dance precision and perfection. Synchronized and mesmerizing. I want to give the choreographer credit but in the program they name original choreographer Bob Fosse, and Gregory Butler, and Ann Reinking, so I’m not sure who it goes to. I believe though that the style is very much Bob Fosse, and one of the actors in the chat back after the show made a reference to the “Fossian” dance style.
The feather dance number for “All I Care About” and the “We Both Reached For The Gun” number where Flynn and Roxie pretend to be ventriloquist and dummy especially stand out. It was funny and extremely well timed. Also notable is J. Terrel in drag as Mary Sunshine singing “A Little Bit of Good” in a fabulous soprano.
Ileana Kirvin is phenomenal as Mama. Connor also gives a compelling performance as Flynn. I was really impressed with how differently he played it than what I was used to with Gere’s movie version of the character. Even the songs are paced differently than the movie versions. I thought Frieden was noteworthy as Roxie, but my companion was more impressed with Brown as Velma.
They do something different for the curtain call, as each actor comes out they call out the actors real name. It’s something I haven’t seen done before and was nice to be able to recognize the actors in that way.
I mentioned the actor chat back above, and I think this is one of the best kept secrets in town. For most Broadway San Diego performances, after the show on the first Wednesday, some of the company will come out and talk to whomever is left in the audience. It could be some of the actors or crew or both. This time we were lucky enough to get some of the principals coming out and in addition to one of the swing dancers, we got to hear from Frieden, Kirvin, and Sullivan. It’s incredibly intimate, usually with only around 20-30 people in the audience though it’s open to all. If you attend the show on the first Wednesday I highly recommend asking one of the ushers if there’s a chat back, and if there is, stick around for it- it’s always fascinating.
Chicago plays through Feb 18 at the Civic Theatre downtown.
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Sandi Masori is a theater and food critic for San Diego Jewish World.