After two years without much theatre, the glitz and glamour of Chicago at the Sunderland Empire is an escapist tonic.
By the time the opening bars of All That Jazz play out, the cast and crew have managed a clever magic trick: 2,000 people have been transported from a theatre moments from the Wear to Vaudevillian 1920s America - complete with an uncomfortable number of murderesses...
Of course, Chicago is a clever, blackly comic take on prison life for women back then, with the death penalty hanging over inmates who fight for media attention in an attempt to boost their cases. (Comparisons to current affairs could well be made.) But what this production captures is the larger-than-life sense of showbiz so evident in the long-running musical.
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And what about that jazz, then? In truth, Chicago is all about the music. A classy on-stage band under the instruction of musical director Andrew Hilton show off the sort of skills it's hard not to be envious of. At times, the saxophonists and trumpeters steal the show and the audience loved every note. It's not often that the biggest ovations at a musical are for the band, but that was undoubtedly the case.
There might not have been Gemma Collins - the reality TV star pulled out of her planned appearance as prison matron Mama Morton - but a strong cast at the Sunderland Empire didn't miss a beat. In particular, Djalenga Scott, playing Velma Kelly as made famous by Catherine Zeta-Jones in the Hollywood film, is a perfect fit.
She imbues Velma with a hard-to-pull-off combination of sexiness and slapstick and absolutely nails the comedy of the role. Along with the other women in Cook County jail awaiting murder trials, her performance in Cell Block Tango - an early number involving the shameless retelling of several graphic murders, which is far more fun than it sounds - is step-perfect. Throughout, as befits a musical which owes a debt to the Jazz Age and cabaret clubs in the 'roaring 20s', the choreography is delightful. It's sharp and sexy, but never loses sight of how to make us laugh either.
Lee Mead, 15 years on from rocketing to stardom when he was picked to play Joseph during the BBC's Any Dream Will Do TV show, is unsurprisingly an accomplished presence as the lawyer who will "do anything for love". Still with his trademark curls, Mead's showmanship and charisma anchors the show. Numbers like Razzle Dazzle show off his vocals and from my seat it looked like he was having a ball.
Billie Hardy played Roxie Hart on the night, and she excelled as the conniving yet charming lead. That it's taken this long to mention her shouldn't be a slight, rather a reminder that everyone involved in this show steps up to the plate. It would also be remiss not to give a shout out to Jamie Baughan as Roxie's hapless husband Amos. Baughan brings just the right amount of self-pity to a role that could otherwise be trite - and his performance of Mr Cellophane was a real crowd-pleaser.
Chicago is at the Sunderland Empire until Saturday June 4.
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