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).
Premiering in Perth ahead of a national tour, a remount of the acclaimed 1996 version brings the story of vaudeville vixens and man-murderers Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly back to Australian stages, with a formidable cast including Anthony Warlow, Zoë Ventoura, Lucy Maunder and Peter Rowsthorn.
Chicago’s narrative is based on Maurine Dallas Watkins’s 1926 play, which draws on her experience as a reporter at the Chicago Tribune where she witnessed lawyers defraud the legal system to secure the release of guilty women. Almost 100 years later, its themes – from fast fame to image obsession, domestic violence, corruption and mass media manipulation – still feel vital.
As Velma Kelly, Perth-raised actress Zoë Ventoura opens the show to great home-town applause, with the sultry All That Jazz. Best known as Melissa Rafter from Packed to the Rafters, here she is sexy and assured, executing Bob Fosse’s angular movements with eye-popping aplomb. She’s a joy to watch, but the dancer-turned-actress sometimes lacks the vocal punch that Velma demands.
Next, we’re introduced to the effervescent Roxie Hart, played by musical theatre stalwart Lucy Maunder. A washed-up chorus girl, Roxie heads down a path of deception after she murders her lover Fred Casely and tries to get her dim-witted husband Amos (Peter Rowsthorn) to take the blame.
Maunder brings the right mix of vulnerability and tenacity to the role, as Roxie grows evermore fame-hungry in her quest for an acquittal, cajoled by the smooth-talking lawyer Billy Flynn (Anthony Warlow). The pair are dynamite in We Both Reached For the Gun, where Billy dictates a new version of the truth while bouncing Roxie around on his lap like a ventriloquist.
One of the most arresting performances comes from American-born Asabi Goodman who plays Matron “Mama” Morton, the prison ward at Cook County Jail who doubles as a talent agent. Goodman’s sassy, powerhouse vocal soars in When You’re Good to Mama, a song that relishes in her corrupt style of mutual aid.
In a bit of stunt casting, comedian Peter Rowsthorn of Kath & Kim fame – not known for his singing or dancing – is hilarious as Roxie’s dowdy simpleton of a husband Amos. His performance of Mister Cellophane may not include the same gravity-defying bendiness as his predecessors, but Rowsthorn’s comic timing and lovable dopiness seem to win over the audience regardless.
Not veering too far from its traditional Brechtian staging, the production features a tiered grand bandstand wreathed in a gold frame, surrounded by simple rows of golden lights to add that razzle dazzle. This places the orchestra in the midst of the action with performers emerging from and disappearing into the bandstand and dancing around and through it. With their undulating torsos, pelvic thrusts and jazz-infused rhythms, the ensemble cast are red-hot, playing a critical role in animating the otherwise simple production and set design – encircling Warlow with a cloud of feather fans in All I Care About; gyrating across a ladder to simulate a foursome; and spectating Roxie’s murder trial.
With Roxie reeling from the fleeting nature of her fame, she finally accepts Velma’s invitation to join her vaudeville sister act, and the antiheroines perform the melancholic Nowadays in front of a twinkling gold curtain. The pair twirl through the classic Fosse-styled isolations but fail to find that perfect symmetry that is so crucial to the casting of these cunning assassins. Much like their competitive tit for tat in Cook County Jail, it’s Roxie who comes out on top.
Chicago is playing at the Crown Theatre in Perth until 17 December 2023, before travelling to Brisbane in January, Melbourne in March, Sydney in June and Adelaide in August
