Review: Chicago (UK tour / New Wimbledon Theatre)

Review by Sam Waite

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What is there left to say about Chicago? After a two-year run on Broadway with the subtitle A Musical Vaudeville, a revival became a surprise mid-90’s smash with Walter Bobbie directing and Ann Reinking choreographing in the style of original director Bob Fosse. Middlingly received in the 70’s for its blunt, Brechtian satire, a new decade meant a new life for Chicago, the revival of which became the longest running American musical in the world, with recreations being a staple of the UK touring scene.

This newest tour arrived at the New Wimbledon Theatre in typically spectacular style, a classic setting for a classic show. Performed on and around a sizeable bandstand, the story of merry murderesses Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly finds the pair fighting for adulation and celebrity, hoping to trade in the Cook County Jail for the Vaudeville stage. Their suspect alibis and clear motives are neither here nor there, and with silver-tongued lawyer Billy Flynn and well-connected matron Mama Morton on their sides these duelling divas mean to high-kick and eye-bat their way to freedom and fame.

If Chicago is known for one thing, besides a killer set of songs, it's for the array of stunt and start-casting that has helped to keep it a sellout smash. You have your pop stars: Brandy Norwood, Usher, Tina Arena. There are your actors: Cuba Gooding Jr, America Ferrera, Maria Friedman. Of course, that leaves the wildcards: Jerry Springer, Pamela Anderson, Billy Ray Cyrus. Famous faces in Chicago are like fish in the ocean – seemingly infinite, and only some are beautiful. Thankfully the cast at the New Wimbledon Theatre prove not onto more than capable, but more than qualified to take on the material.

Strictly’s Janette Manrara makes for a terrific Roxie, her obvious skills as a dancer complimented by a strong singing voice and killer comic chops. With Roxie being the usual celebrity role, it's not uncommon for Velma to steal the show in terms of pure talent, and Djalenga Scott certainly has all the makings of a marvellous Velma Jelly. Still despite how wonderful Scott is, how sharp her steps and brassy her vocals, during the closing “Hot Honey Rag,” I found Manrara impossible to look away from – a truly magnetic performance worthy of such an iconic role.

That's not to detract from Scott, whose Velma is a consummate showgirl, excelling in her interactions with the audience and nailing the Vaudevillian charms of opener “All That Jazz.” Also remarkably good is Brenda Edwards, bringing a big voice and a boisterous energy to the jail’s bribe-happy matron. Indeed, good as she is at being sly and seductive, Edwards brings a real warmth to key moments, particularly her tragic scenes with a doomed Hungarian inmate.

Joshua Lloyd is a real pro in the thankless role of Amos Hart, the betrayed but ever-loyal husband. Lansing the sad-sack delivery of his endlessly unfortunate life, Lloyd really shines on Amos’ lone musical number, the ode to invisibility “Mr Cellophane.” As a man no one can ignore, Darren Day opens the tour as Billy Flynn, bringing all the requisite charisma and quickly winning over the audience. This kind of role calls for bravado and brashness, and while Day shows glimmers of both, his introductory “All I Care About Number” does get dominated by the ensemble around him, even without the oversized feathers. In a musical centred on a pair of scintillating sinners, perhaps it's only right that the ladies come out on top.

Outside of the cast themselves, Chicago is an exercise in not fixing what certainly isn't broken. Ann Reinking’s Fosse-influenced choreography, recreated by Gary Chryst, is timeless, and John Lee Beatty’s minimalist stage design allows us to view the show as it was only title, A Musical Vaudeville. A collection of numbers using performance styles of the era to show how the whole world is, to these characters, a stage. William Ivey Long continues the tradition of black garments with cut-outs, mesh, and plenty of almost-shown skin. It's not quite as salacious at it may once have seemed, but the sleekness goes a long way towards creating that iconic aesthetic.

Chicago is a permanent fixture of the theatre scene, and for good reason. The satire is as relevant as ever, with every new generation bringing yet more questionable figures into idol territory, and many of the songs are instantly familiar even to newcomers. So prolific and popular is the show that many have assumed this very website got its name from two of the songs - it's a coincidence, or so Daz claims! A sardonic show unwilling to let audiences off the hook for our complicity in idolising sinners, Chicago at least lets us have fun with our failings.

Chicago plays at the New Wimbledon Theatre until June 14th before continuing on a UK tour

Some tour dates with have differing cast members, as listed on the show’s website

For tickets and information for all dates visit https://chicagothemusical.com/uk-tour/