Category: Kander and Ebb
Review: Chicago the Musical (Broadway in Chicago)
The new razzle dazzle as pertinent as ever
| Broadway in Chicago presents |
| Chicago |
| Written by Fred Ebb, Bob Fosse and John Kander Directed by Walter Bobbie at Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph (map) through June 12 | tickets: $30-$95 | more info |
Reviewed by Lawrence Bommer
Now in its fifteenth year, this slimmed-down, near-concert version of Kander and Ebb’s cynical and enthralling musical features, as the smoothly lying lawyer Billy Flynn, John O’Hurley (J. Peterman in “Seinfeld” and a fixture on “Dancing with the Stars.” It’s a sardonic case of art-mutilates-life: As the press-wheedling lawyer in this sexy-strutting, Tony-winning revival of Chicago, O’Hurley exactly recalls Johnnie Cochran at his ingratiating worst. His deadpan asides and silky put-downs are passive aggression at its most insidious.
Chicago proves again how everything old is new again. For Maurine Watkins‘ crime-based comedy (an amoral companion to “The Front Page”, its equally cynical contemporary), the time is 1926, when a shyster flim-flams a credulous jury with "razzle dazzle." Following acquittal, Chicago murderesses Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly–former rivals turned reluctant partners–enjoy brief vaudeville glory at, among many venues, our old McVickers Theatre. Then "Chicago’s killer-dillers" sink into the obscurity that was interrupted by two unpunished slayings.
Forget the Jazz Age backdrop: this "drop dead" musical is as cunningly current as the Casey Anthony trial. The target for Kander and Ebb’s wicked 1975 musical, vibrantly restored in Walter Bobbie’s stream-lined staging, is phony celebrities, a prurient press that wallows in the vices it pretends to scorn, a bottom-feeding public who prefer killers to victims, and the cynical credo that showbiz sucks on somebody else’s sorrow.
Add to this deja vu our tabloid/talk-show penchant for forgiving confessional criminals who plead for pity over punishment–and Chicago seems as contemptuous as a former IMF honcho under condo arrest.
Told as vaudeville (with the 20 songs depicting "acts of desperation"), Chicago moves a lot faster than justice. Set inside gold frames (the inner one enclosing the first-rate band, the outer the in-your-face stage action), the hit-and-run scenes shake and shimmy. Stripped of sets (who needs a chandelier or helicopter with songs like these?), director Walter Bobbie focuses on the song-and-dance glories that Bob Fosse bequeathed to Ebb’s infectious score and that Anne Reinking lovingly reconstructs.
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I treasure the memory of seeing Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera on March 1, 1978, in a touring production at the old Blackstone Theatre, as well as the late Michael Barto‘s 1994 Prologue Theatre revival. But this fiercely concentrated second-coming invents its own showbiz heaven. Supple as panthers, the silky-smooth, superbly-conditioned cast slink through "All That Jazz" till the theater risks meltdown. "Razzle Dazzle," spiced with a shower of silver sequins, a mirror globe and a descending bank of backlights, amounts to a Broadway orgasm.
At the vortex of Reinking’s carnivorous, bump-and-grind choreography is four-star bravura work. Terra C. MacLeod’s Velma is hilarious as half a dance team in her frenzied "I Can’t Do It Alone." Tracy Shayne remorselessly turns Roxie Hart into a lethal mix of Jean Harlow and Leona Helmsley. O’Hurley has contagious fun swaggering among simpering, feather-fanning chorines in "All I Care About," and big-bosomed Roz Ryan, as a Cook County dominatrix-matron, tears the soul from her ragtime anthem "When You’re Good To Mama." Ron Orbach, repeating the part that fits him like his ugly costumes, is suitably self-effacing as Roxie’s nebbish husband Amos and, memorably, T.W. Smith‘s toxic depiction of a sob-sister reporter is as deceptive as her crime stories.
Thanks to this sizzling production, Chicago’s summer just got a lot hotter.
| Rating: ★★★★ |
All photos by Paul Kolnik
1997 Tony Awards
REVIEW: Cabaret (The Hypocrites’)
Willkommen to a darker, sexier ‘Cabaret’
| The Hypocrites Theatre presents |
| Cabaret |
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Book by Joe Masteroff |
reviewed by Keith Ecker
The first thing you will notice about The Hypocrites’s production of Cabaret is the genderbending. The scene-stealing role of the emcee, who has been played by everyone from Joel Gray to Alan Cumming to Neil Patrick Harris, is now played by a woman (Jessie Fisher). And whereas the men always brought a certain effeminacy to the role, Fisher brings a cocky butchness without sacrificing her sensuality.
You could view this casting call as a way to pander to a more general audience, eliminating the homosexual overtones of the show’s ringmaster. But The Hypocrites’ version of the piece is still rife with in-your-face graphic gay sexuality, from the lingering kiss between the American Cliff (Michael Peters) and one of the cabaret boys to the completely unsubtle choreography, which includes a lot of mock copulation.
In fact, if anything, the choice to womanize the emcee adds an additional thematic element to the play, one that promotes the strength and courage of women and the misogyny of the Nazi state. This is most effective during the song “I Don’t Care Much.” Director Matt Hawkins places four masked Nazi soldiers around the emcee who watch her with cold, dead eyes. The emcee staggers around the stage, spitting at the men as she taunts them with the lyrics of the song, knowing full well that she is writing her own death sentence.
Fisher exudes confidence as the nightclub’s central figure She also has a clever wit, ad-libbing occasionally during some of the more light-hearted numbers such as “Willkommen.” Like her carriage on stage, her voice is vigorously energetic, proving to be one of the strongest in the cast.
Lindsay Leopold plays the manic Sally Bowles with feral-like fierceness. The character of Sally spans a spectrum of emotion, oftentimes displaying two distinct feelings at once: her external exuberance and her inner depression. Leopold straddles this spectrum well. For example, her rendition of “Cabaret” is not the joyful melody you may recall from the movie. Rather, it’s a melancholy rendition made all the more poignant when contrasted with the upbeat lyrics.
The costumes in the musical are basically a character unto themselves. Costume designer Alison Siple creates a cohesive aesthetic that combines ruffles and rags with garters and lace. The women look simply fantastic. However, the men did not get the same treatment. Whereas the women’s flamboyant costumes genuinely reflect the sexy cabaret atmosphere, the men’s costumes seem more like cartoonish afterthoughts.
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Hawkins direction is superb. The play moves along quickly, juggling various plotlines from the rise of the Nazi regime to Sally’s love affair with Cliff to the engagement of the landlady Frau Schneider. But it never feels hurried. The staging is also impressive. At the beginning of the play, the cabaret girls make grand entrances by sliding down poles, while near the end, the faceless Nazi guards stand menacingly along the catwalk above the stage.
The play is also done in a cabaret setting, providing ample intimacy for the audience and performers. Although most of the audience is relegated to risers, a few lucky patrons are able to sit at tables along the stage.
The Hypocrites Theatre’s production of Cabaret is dark, sexy and fabulous. If you’ve never had the opportunity to see the play in an intimate, cabaret-like setting, this is your chance. With great direction, singing and revealing costumes, the show will titillate and entertain before crash-landing into its inevitable, disturbing conclusion.
| Rating: ★★★½ |
Extra Credit:
Review: Drury Lane Oakbrook’s “Cabaret”
underneath it’s green fingernails
Drury Lane Oakbrook (map) presents:
Cabaret
By Joe Masteroff (book), Fred Ebb (lyrics) and John Kander (music)
directed by Jim Corti
thru October 11th (buy tickets)
Reviewed by Oliver Sava
Drury LaneOakbrook’s production of Cabaret is pretty, but afraid to get dirty. Jim Corti’s choreography is tight and the singing is more than serviceable, but it lacks the pulse and frantic energy that have made this show a postwar classic. The desperation of post-World War I/pre-Nazi Germany is never truly captured, and the end result doesn’t quite have the political punch that the book and music deserve.
When American novelist Clifford Bradshaw (Jim Weitzer) arrives in Berlin, he and the audience are greeted by the over-the-top theatrics of the post-World War I cabaret, but director/choreographer Sam Corti‘s vision of the Kit Kat Club feels tame. Yes, there is plenty of sex and booze flowing, but the atmosphere feels more Cole Porter than Kander and Ebb. The nature of the cabaret, an underground pleasure den where German citizens could escape the hardships of reality, seems to be lost as grit is replaced with glitter. The Master of Ceremonies (Patrick Andrews), takes the stage with a boyish delight, but Andrews struggles to find the darkness in the character that symbolizes the Nazi party’s rise as a legitimate political force.
Zarah Mahler has a similar struggle with the darker thematic elements of the show in her portrayal of Sally Bowles, the English songstress that can’t balance her love for Clifford with the frivolity of the cabaret at the same time. The chemistry between Weitzer and Mahler never quite ignites, making the relationship between the two seem forced and putting even more pressure on Mahler to show Sally’s desperate need for affection, a feat that is finally accomplished in her rendition of the musical’s title number.
Unlike the 1972 film, the stage version of Cabaret devotes much more time to the ascent of the Nazi party and the consequences it has on ordinary Berlin citizens. In a heartbreaking subplot involving Clifford’s landlady Fraulein Schneider (Rebecca Finnegan) and her Jewish beau Herr Schultz (David Lively), the cruel and pervasive nature of Nazism provides the motion that the production needs. When Fraulein Kost (Christine Sherrill), Schneider’s bitter prostitute tenant, leads the denizens of the cabaret in a rousing version of “Tomorrow Belongs To Me” at the couple’s engagement party, the tension is nerve-rattling. The scene shows a glimmer of the Cabaret that could have been, a terrifyingly exciting examination on the appeal of true evil in a desperate world.
For inauguration – $44 Tickets to Broadway-in-Chicago shows!!
BROADWAY IN CHICAGO IS CELEBRATING THE INAUGURATION OF OUR 44TH PRESIDENT, CHICAGO’S OWN BARACK OBAMA, WITH A ONE day SALE of $44 TICKETS FOR BROADWAY IN CHICAGO SHOWS
$44 tickets to most Broadway in Chicago productions are available for purchase on inauguration day, January 20, 2009 only, for select advance performances.
Broadway In Chicago is celebrating the inauguration of the 44th U.S. President, Chicagoan Barack Obama, by offering theatre patrons an opportunity to purchase $44 tickets all day on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009, to select performances of productions including Jersey Boys, Mary Poppins, Xanadu, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Chicago: The Musical, Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles, A Bronx Tale, and Rent.
All day on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 patrons may use the promo code PRESIDENT for designated performances to purchase any seat in the theatre for only $44. For complete details and a list of valid performances, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com/President. Participating productions have several performance date and time options available with this special offer.
Tickets are available at all Broadway In Chicago Box Offices (24 W. Randolph St., 151 W. Randolph St. and 18 W. Monroe St.); the Broadway In Chicago Ticket Line at (312) 902-1400; all Ticketmaster retail locations (including Hot Tix, select Carson Pirie Scott, Coconuts and fye stores); and online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com. Tickets are available to groups of 20 or more by calling (312) 977-1710.
For more information, visit www.BroadwayInChicago.com/President
Mental Health Break: Florence Henderson shows kinky side!
Ran across this video the other day, and thought I’d share it with my readers. Who knew Mrs. Brady was so nasty…
Rave reviews for Theo Ubique’s “Cabaret”!!
Looks like Theo Ubique Theatre has a big hit on their hands up in Roger Parks’ No Exit Cafe. Across the board, the reviews have been stellar, including:
Beverly Friend from the Pioneer Press:
The magic begins as the audience enters the No Exit Cafe, now reincarnated as Berlin’s 1930′s decadent Kit Kat Klub complete with cast members waiting tables and — for those who include dinner in the evening’s festivities — bringing out brimming plates of knockwurst, sauerkraut and spaetzel or vegetable pot pie. The hot, tasty food provides as much nourishment for the body as the story line nourishes the heart and soul…
If you haven’t seen any version of “Cabaret,” what are you waiting for? Get going. It doesn’t get any better than this!
Read the entire review here.
And Tom Williams over at ChicagoCritic.com opines:
Director Fred Anzevino sure knows how to stage a musical on his tiny No Exit Cafe stage. His skillful blocking and smart use of the tight knocks and crannies gave his production of Cabaret an emotional edge that catapulted us back to the 1930 Kit Kat Club of Weimar Berlin. Featuring the rich John Kander score on Fred Ebb’s biting lyrics, Cabaret is a multi-layered musical of decadence and desperation. Based on Christopher Isherwood’s novel, Berlin Stories, Cabaret from its 1966 Broadway opening (winner of 8 Tony’s) and the 1972 film (winner of 8 Oscars) has been mounted often to varying levels of success. Theo Ubique’s production is superb in every aspect. It sings well, dances expertly and is acted richly. In short, this production deserves packed houses-it is that good!
Read the entire review here.
