"Chicago" Review

Before leaving for the show, I researched it and found out the musical was written in 1962, adapted from the original play, Chicago. It was written by Maureen Dallas Watkins, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, who drew her inspiration from a couple of famous murder cases. Also (and it it eventually became obvious) that it was a satirical take on the Judicial System and/or criminal justice as the innocent gets put to death and the bad ones walk free in the end. With this knowledge in mind, I drove with my younger sister to the Little Theatre of Norfolk to see a production of one of America’s longest-running musicals.

The curtains opened upon a live band sitting just enough upstage for the cast to strut out and steal the scene with “All That Jazz.” The opening was well executed, but the performance following was lackluster until the number “When You’re Good to Mama.” Matron Mama Morton, played by Katherine Engelke Davis, brought life to the show that was lacking from the start. Following with “All I Care About,” A. Michael Singleton added another new energy to the show through his character, Billy Flynn. This continued with the humorous ventriloquist piece “We Both Reached for the Gun." Singleton and Davis brought a sophistication to the show that was readily welcomed.

The set was bare which allowed for more dancing and easy transitions in such a small space but there were songs in which the stage was too full. It was understandable that the entire cast would perform “All That Jazz,” the opening number, but the famous, or rather infamous, “Cell Block Tango” choreography tried to include all of the female dancers, which resulted in crowding. While it was exciting to see such iconic songs performed, the choreography could have been classified as fairly substantial, mainly due to it’s delivery. Most of it was sultry enough, but when it needed to be, it was not as snappy as a 1920’s show such as Chicago or Thoroughly Modern Millie should be.

Also a great many dance moves were repetitive. That being said, during the post-show talkback, it was revealed that the choreographer had stepped up practically last minute to fill in the absence of another choreographer. Although this is admirable, there were several eight counts of the same moves that could have been salvaged had the actors put the much-needed energy into every beat. But the repetition of the moves made the dances look under-choreographed.

A obvious difficulty with Little Theatre of Norfolk is the challenge of performing in a small space. One mightn't think that projecting would be an issue though, even with so many bodies filling the space, but add a live band onstage and the lack of projection and an issue is presented as opposed to a performance. The talkback also revealed that the cast had not rehearsed with the band onstage for more than a week. Sometimes the chorus would overwhelm the soloists, but the actors didn’t project as much as they could have during dialogue either so it may be entirely actor error. By the end of Act One, I wasn’t understanding how this show is such a long-run success apart from the obvious raunchiness and sex factor that goes into it.

In general, spotlight songs and transitions slowed down the show, but the second act picked up pieces left behind by Act One. Velma and Roxie, played by Gabrielle Jurscaga and Lauren Henry, stepped up their game in Act Two and even so, apart from Roxie’s dancing, their energy was still low. The oddity of it all though was that mostly everyone looked like they were having fun. Velma and Mama’s “Class” was delivered with all the mournful snarkiness it required and, by the end, I found a liking for Gabrielle Jurscaga’s portrayal of Velma and the sass with which she delivered whenever she wasn’t catering to another character.

Amos, played by Garney Johnson, had his moment with “Cellophane,” a bit which pulled a lot of audience sympathy, but in a comical way. Johnson’s voice boomed across the audience at a natural level and he portrayed Amos with believability. He was one of the few characters who could be heard consistently and that was greatly appreciated. Although he gets kicked to the curb by Roxie, he had the strongest and most distinct character presence.

The costume designer, Katharine Given, kept with the black lingerie, but tried to introduce some historical pieces into it. For example Roxie’s dress in the courtroom scene was a pattern that was written in 1924 and Mamma’s Matron dress was a pattern from 1931, but a member of the ensemble was wearing a black, lacy-sleeved top from Forever21. She explained that she “was trying to bring in some accurate pieces while still having a really fresh and modern take…” and for Chicago, she did this beautifully, as did Marilyn Abernathy with wig design.

Despite this show not being one of my favorites, I have seen other productions at LTN that I enjoyed quite well. Lend Me a Tenor for example and The Cripple of Inishmaan. This was simply a performance that I did not find quite as preferable as some others. So I would not ask anyone to judge the quality of the Little Theatre of Norfolk’s productions by the critiques in this review alone.

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