Review: CHICAGO at Des Moines Performing Arts

This season with Des Moines Performing Arts is full of "Razzle Dazzle." One of the things I'm excited about this season with Willis Broadway Series is that they are presenting not one but two shows that came out of the City Center Encore Series in NYC. The first is "Chicago: The Musical," which is currently the longest-running show open on Broadway. While this production of the show may have opened in 1996, it still feels timely today.

If you aren't familiar with the story of "Chicago," it centers around two murderesses in the Jazz Age and how their paths cross in the Cook County Jail. The show starts after Roxie kills Fred Casey, a man she has been having an affair with and decides to walk out on her. She is told that her case is hanging, so when she is introduced to a lawyer, Billy Flynn, who gets his clients out of jail with a not-guilty verdict through Razzle and Dazzle. While in jail, she is introduced to Velma Kelly, who killed her husband and sister when they were having an affair. Both of them are clients of Billy.  Things are going well until another murderess is brought into jail and takes the attention away from them.  As the first act ends, Roxie tells everyone she is pregnant.  You will have to go to the show to find out if that is the truth and how her trial goes.

What has kept this show running for almost 30 years?  I think part of the genius of the show comes from the set design by John Lee Beatty and the costume design by William Ivy Long.  While the show is all about being over the top, neither of these elements are.  The set primarily serves as a stage for the band, with chairs or ladders brought in from time to time, with the costumes being mostly black with pops of white. This approach allows for the story and the cast telling the story to be the show's focus.

Over its run on Broadway, the show has earned a reputation for bringing in stars to different roles within the show. While this tour doesn't have the stars they bring into the show in New York, it has some extremely talented people who keep it as thrilling to watch. One of those thrilling performances came from Illeana "Illy" Kirven as Mamma Morton. From the moment she came on stage for "When You're Good to Mama," she commanded the attention of everyone on stage as well as the audience. Her rendition of the song was a highlight of the evening. Connor Sullivan also does a fantastic job as Billy Flynn and can instantly turn on the character's charm. It was fun to see when he chose not to use the charm the character is known for.

Ellie Roddy and Taylor Lane, respectively, are leading the show in the roles of Roxie Heart and Velma Kelly. They both seemed to have a slow start with their characters, but once they clicked after a number, you couldn't take your eyes off them or what they were doing. Both execute the Fosse-inspired choreography with precision.

Whether it's your first time taking a trip to "Chicago" or you are making a return visit, this show feels just as timely as it did almost 30 years ago when this production opened.  The phenomenal cast, the sets and costumes, and all that jazz come together and have the audience yelling, screaming, and begging for more. The Des Moines stop of the tour is here through December 8.  I'm looking forward to seeing another City Center Encore production this summer when "Parade" comes to Des Moines and seeing how things may have changed with City Center Encores over the past 30 years.  For more information about Des Moines Performing Arts and the Willis Broadway Series, visit https://www.desmoinesperformingarts.org/whats-on/series/willis-broadway-series

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