“Ladies and Gentlemen, you are about to see a story of murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery, and treachery – all those things we all hold near and dear to our hearts.” So declares the Vaudeville-stage emcee, in classic cutaway, announcing the opening introduction to the wickedly wonderful musical Chicago.
That line sets the cheeky tone for the vintage Broadway show that is, of course, set in jazz-age Chicago during the Roaring Twenties, telling the story of two rival murderesses locked up in the county jail.
If you’ve only seen the Academy-award winning movie version of Chicago, great as it is, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Rene Zellweger, as the leading belles behind bars, however, you’d be missing out on the powerful theatrical experience achieved in Village Theatre’s production now being staged in Issaquah through June 29, and continued at Everett Performing Arts Center from July 5 through July 28.
The storyline of Chicago has been told since 1926 in several movies and on stage:
Roxie Hart, a nightclub showgirl and married woman, has cruelly murdered her illicit boyfriend after he threatened to leave her, and is thrown in the clinker. Once in jail, she meets prison warden Mama Morton and another ambitious showgirl, Velma Kelly, with whom she competes for the spotlight in the local crime-obsessed tabloids.
The play chronicles how press-hungry Roxie learns the ropes in jail, manipulates her cluelessly loyal auto-mechanic husband into hiring the best criminal lawyer to defend her case, and finally worms her way into the headlines. The original musical opened on Broadway in 1975 by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. It was based on a 1926 play of the same name by Maurine Dallas Watkins, a reporter who covered two sensational murder trials in 1920s Chicago.
This farcical fable about criminals profiting as celebrities, and about the media itself profiting from sensational murder trials, couldn’t be more relevant in today’s world of celebrity-crime specials that have now become of the television’s biggest audience draws.
In fact, this show opened only a day after notorious Jodi Arias was convicted of first-degree murder last month. Arias’s constantly shifting stories and pleas of self-defense seemed almost lifted out of this musical, as when one of the murderesses in “Cell Block Tango” screams, “he ran into my knife. He ran into my knife 10 times.”
In this era of Great Gatsby revivals, Village Theater pulls off an entertaining, glitzy adaptation that captures the Art Deco roots of this play, with dazzling touches of Josephine Baker and Busby Berkeley, under Steve Tomkins able direction, while still paying homage to the edgy style of Bob Fosse, who choreographed the original Broadway production in 1975, leaving a lasting signature.
Since the musical was revived in 1996, earning six Tony awards, Chicago has become the fourth longest running show on Broadway and the single longest running Broadway revival, for reasons that are easy to understand. Telling a tale of sex, greed, and murder just through song and dance is hard to do, but compelling when it’s done well.
And Village Theatre’s actors carry it off well. Taryn Darr plays the ingénue wannabe Roxie with aplomb, carrying off the feel of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Zelda, in a blonde bob doing a chic Charleston. Desiree Davar does an admirable job of belting out showgirl Velma’s vocals, too, although her performance could have played up her decadence more.
Shaunyce Omar plays the hardened prison warden Matron Mama Morton to the hilt, belting out a terrific “When you’re good to mama.” And the most charismatic co-conspirator in the system of celebrity crime sensationalism is Timothy McCuen Piggee as Billy Flynn, as the smooth, tough shark lawyer whose glittering teeth match his glitzy cutaway.
The ensemble dancers do a great job of carrying out the choreography of Kristin Holland, based largely on Fosse. High marks go to costume designer Karen Ann Ledger, who revives a palette of jazz age metallics, gold and silver and bold colors, instead of the iconic basic black of Fosse’s original musical.
The result is to leave the viewer razzle-dazzled all the more by the glitz and glamour, questioning the meaning of murder as entertainment. With the succession of murder trials being made into spectacle today, from Jodi Arias to Casey Anthony to Amanda Knox, then turned into TV movies designed to capture millions more viewers, however, the darker undertones deserve a loud hammer chord.
Although the show’s subject matter is a bit racier than its usual family-friendly fare, the theatre’s final production of its 2012-2013 season sanitizes some of the raw sexuality of the original, making it appropriate for a younger audience, while still delivering plenty of punch. It’s worth a trip to see the show before it closes in Issaquah next weekend, or Everett through next month.
More information
When: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 7 p.m., and matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Now through June 29, in Issaquah; July 5-28 in Everett. Tuesday-Saturday 8 pm; matinees Saturday 2 p.m.
For more information, visit www.villagetheatre.org/ or 425-392-2202.
Francesca Lyman is a reporter and writer who covers the environment, health, and the arts, living in Kirkland.
