Chicago

It seems only a minute ago that Chicago was in town, but in actual fact it’s been ten years since this vaudeville valentine played QPAC. In that time it has become the longest-running revival in Broadway history, and the longest-running American musical on Broadway, only surpassed by the Andrew Lloyd Webber behometh The Phantom of the Opera. It’s the musical for our age - big, brassy and vulgar with buckets of cynicism. Its satire of the ‘celebrity criminal’ hasn’t dated and seems even more relevant in this day and age of YouTube posts.

It’s the same minimalist style of production with the band centre-stage in a box that resembles a jury box, and a new cast who give the show a premium shot of adrenalin. Former Neighbours star Natalie Bassingthwaighte comfortably steps into Roxie Hart’s shoes, swinging seductively on a proscenium ladder with “Funny Honey”, flaunting narcissistically with the boys on “Roxie” and coming into her own in the finale dance-duo with Velma, “Hot Honey Rag”. Alinta Chidzey’s Velma Kelly was a brash and caustic bombshell, sang the heart out of “All That Jazz”, and added some steamy raunch to “When Velma Takes the Stand”.

But it was Casey Donovan as Matron “Mama” Morton who walked away with the show. A true diva, with the best voice on stage, her “When You’re Good To Mama” was a showstopper. And her “Class” duet with Chidzey wasn’t too bad either.

Australia’s sound-alike Sinatra, Tom Burlinson nimbly negotiated feather-fans and glitter as the avaricious Billy Flynn, whilst Rodney Dobson as Amos Hart was excellent, drawing huge lumps of pathos out of “Mr Cellophane”, one of the best examples of a ‘vaudeville’ routine in the musical.

Mary Sunshine’s soprano trills were in good hands with J. Furtado, and Andrew Cook drew laughs as a buffed and athletic Fred Casely.

However top honours of the night go to the band, whose brass delivered some wonderfully dirty Dixieland jazz, especially in the “Entr’acte”, and the chorus of boys and girls who revelled in the signature Fosse-style dance moves.

Peter Pinne

Photographer: Jeff Busby