If one were to sum up the feeling after witnessing one of the grandest shows on the Broadway in just a word, it would be, ‘Ecstatic’. This is the feeling that one gets upon witnessing the genius of the artists on stage and all you can say is that even after years of production, it still infuses energy to the audience, giving them every penny worth of their Chicago the musical tickets.
One can fell the energy pulsating throughout the performance, and the show stopping rounds of standing ovations clearly illustrate the enjoyment factor of the crowds.
Chicago the musical tickets tell the tale of Velma and more importantly, of Roxie Hart, a wanna-be singer and vaudeville performer, who has literally shot to fame with the murder of her lover, with the fooling of her husband at his back. Her attorney, Billy Flynn, uses the celebrity status of the entire episode for all its worth and then milks it even more. He is a typical shark who is more concerned about his money and other social pleasures than concentrating on the plight of his own clients. He does manage to give a deft masterstroke by almost convincing everyone of the innocence of the murderer in the sensitive circumstances and gets away with it, only to be done in by fate at the last hurdle.
‘All that Jazz’, the opening score asserts the view that all the subsequent song and dance numbers would be very strong, and rightly so. One can but get all the shivers down the spine when Velma speaks about the murder at the beginning, saying, “My sister Veronica and I had this double act, and my husband Charlie traveled around with us. Now for the last number in our act we did these 20 acrobatic tricks in a row: one, two, three, four, five, splits, spread-eagles, back-flips, flip-flops, one right after the other. So this one night before the show we’re at the hotel Cicero, the three of us boozin, having a few laughs, and we run out of ice, so I run out to get some. I come back, open the door, and there’s Veronica and Charlie doing number 17, the spread-eagle. Well, I was in such a state of shock that I completely blacked out; I can’t remember a thing. It wasn’t until later, when I was washing the blood off my hands, I even knew they were dead.”
The demure actress turns the part into a most tempting treat as she manages to capture all the emotions that the character goes through the course of the murder and the subsequent trial. With such an array of emotions at disposal, you’d surely want to book your Chicago the musical tickets on a priority basis.
One of the play’s classic scenes ‘We Both Reached for the Gun’ is as beautifully crafted as imagination can take us. At her press conference, the wily and curt Flynn has Roxie on his lap in one of the most animated ventriloquist acts that see him dictating his version of the night of murder in question, while Roxie masterly mouths his words. It is a perfect unison of sorts as the duo never go off the beat.
Kevin Chamberland, playing Roxie’s unnoticed husband delivered a heart-wrenching track in ‘Mr. Cellophane’, which makes the audience take notice.
The sparse staging with a simple yet bold massive gold frame surrounding the excellent live 16-piece orchestra, gives it an aura that is not matched easily. It not only allows the actors and the crew to climb stairs for the entry and exit purposes on the stage, but acts as a perfect prop too at times as the dancers sit on the side of the stage, mostly in the darkness. The stage lighting is as effective as can be, using a wide range of focused spotlights that highlight the actors and set the right tome of the moment in action.
The costumes are made of the trademark that people buy the Chicago the musical tickets for…simply sexy. Without any costume changes at all, the same bunch of talented actors play the roles brilliantly from everything ranging from the prison inmates to the gossip hungry news reporters.
Chicago delivers a large volume of laughs, a great story that talks about the prohibition era Chicago that seems to be straight out of the tabloids. The memorable song and dance sequences are nothing to be reluctant about as the magic of the original comes alive with the purchase of Chicago the musical tickets.