A singular chair waits expectantly under spotlight. The curtains sparkle with gold lettering, and then the lights go down. “Ladies and gentlemen,” the MC cries out. “You are about to see a story of greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery.”
The audience, of course, already knows what’s behind the curtains. This masterful jazz-age satire was first presented in 1975 and reimagined in 1996, and is one of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history. Its canonical score – from All That Jazz to Razzle Dazzle – is imprinted on the grey matter of theatregoers the world over (and that of filmgoers too, after the Hollywood star-filled screen adaptation in 2002).
