BWW Reviews: CHICAGO! Slays 'Em At The Hippodrome

Author's Note: The posting of this review was delayed due to family circumstances. CHICAGO! has moved on from Baltimore. It is my hope my review will be of use to audiences in other cities on CHICAGO!'s tour.

Since 1975, CHICAGO has been beloved by the American public, much as its counterpart, A CHORUS LINE has been. However, this popularity has created a Damoclean sword for the show, particularly since the 2002 movie's release. Based on customer reviews of the Broadway show, many folk are disappointed that their experience of live theatre did not more closely mimic the movie they'd seen, often many times.

Please do not go to the Hippodrome expecting a staged version of the movie rendition of CHICAGO!- it is a musical adapted from a Vaudeville creation based on a straight play by journalist Maurine Dallas Watkins, inspired by actual events in Chicago in the '20s. The stage play was a hit, making it as far as 172 performances on Broadway in 1926. In the '60s, dancer/producer/director/choreographer Bob Fosse repeatedly attempted to buy rights to the show, but was denied until Watkins' death in 1969. Watkins felt that the show celebrated and glamorized crime to an unwholesome degree, and did not wish to perpatrate the sentiment. Her estate sold the rights to producer Richard Fryer, Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, who collaborated with John Kandor and Fred Ebb to create Chicago: A Musical Vaudeville, which opened in 1975, a satire of the celebration of prominent criminals. Nowadays, against events in contemporary culture, the element of satire is almost invisible.

When the show was revamped in the mid-'90s, it was deliberately pared down, rejecting fancy theatre tech which we now enjoy to the point of oversaturation. This does make one number, Razzle Dazzle, somewhat ironic, as the levels of razzling and dazzling are nearly minimalist by today's standards.

Being able to see the orchestra (16 pieces, 9 of them brass) actually on the stage instead tucked in the 'pit' is refreshing. The setup allows for interaction between the characters and the conductor, particularly since one of the major entrances is right in the middle of the jurybox-like bandstand.

Aside from the bandstand, a pair of ladders and a gold frame around the proscenium, there is no set, unless you count the chairs. Since they are handled and moved around by actors, they're technically 'props', I am told. The biggest technical elaboration is some tiny pendant lights flown in for Cell Block Tango which are flown back out at the number's conclusion. The follow-spots were dead accurate. That's pretty much it for tech.

Costuming is fabulously skimpy and unrelentingly black, as is traditional to the production of the stage show. This sparsity of production- and, frankly, story: the plot is delivered in tiny drips and drabs of dialogue interspersed between songs- allows for focus to be on the snazzy jazz musical numbers and the archetypical Fosse moves which have come to be associated with the show. Choreographer Ann Reinking delivers Fosse style in spades.

As Velma, Terra MacLeod is brilliant: brittle, irreverent, self-interested and, occasionally, vulnerable. Her delivery of All That Jazz sets the standard for the rest of the show, which it mostly maintains. Bianca Marroquin's Roxie Hart is impeccable, and of particular delight are Jacob Keith Watson's Amos Hart and Roz Ryan's "Mama" Morton.

CHICAGO plays at the Hippodrome through Sunday March 8th, showtimes 8pm through Saturday, Saturday matinee 2 pm, Sunday shows 1 pm and 6:30 pm.

The Hippodrome

12 N Eutaw St, Baltimore, MD 21201

(410) 837-7400

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