Photo Flash: First Look At Theater Latté Da's Re-Imagined CHICAGO

Theater Latté Da presents CHICAGO, Broadway's longest-running American musical. Winner of 7 Tony awards including Best Musical Revival, CHICAGO features a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The musical, based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, is directed by Theater Latté Da Artistic Director Peter Rothstein with Music Direction by Denise Prosek and choreography by Kelli Foster Warder.

CHICAGO will run September 18 - November 3, 2019 at the Ritz Theater. Preview performances are September 18-20. Single tickets start at $33. Group, student, and other discounts are available. On stage seating is also available and general admission. Tickets go on sale July 18 through the box office at 612.339.3003 or online at Latteda.org. Post-show discussions and access services (ASL/AD performances) are available on select dates and by request.

Set in Chicago during the roaring 1920s and based on real-life murders and trials, CHICAGO follows Roxie Hart, a wannabe vaudevillian star who murders her secret lover. In the Cook County Jail, Roxie meets her hero, the famed double-murderess and nightclub performer Velma Kelly. Tensions come to a head as the two murderesses vie for the ultimate spotlight. Broadway's longest-running American musical, CHICAGO is a female-driven powerhouse. It's a dazzling and satirical look at fame, justice, and the American media machine.

The musical is based on a play of the same title written by journalist-turned-playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins in 1926. It became a Broadway smash followed by a 1942 film titled Roxie Hart starring Ginger Rogers.

In the rarefied world of cult shows, CHICAGO the musical holds a place all its own, largely due to the caliber of those involved in its creation. The show, directed by Bob Fosse, also the co-author of its book, provided song-writers John Kander and Fred Ebb with a magnificent dark subject in which they could inject sardonic aspects of their own eccentric creativity. In the creator's hands, the trial became a series of vaudeville acts, brilliantly originated by Jerry Orbach, Chita Rivera, and Gwen Verdon. Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon's tumultuous and legendary relationship was recently brought to the fore in the FX drama Fosse/Verdon. The new Emmy-nominated mini-series tells the story of the singular romantic and creative partnership between Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon.

In spite of the show's credentials and a run of 947 performances, CHICAGO, which opened at the 46th Street Theatre on June 3, 1975, was eventually deemed a financial failure, though a creative success. The Broadway revival of the show opened on November 14, 1996 and in the time since, has become the longest running American musical in Broadway history.

Director Peter Rothstein and the design team, including Eli Sherlock (scenic designer), Mary Shabatura (lighting designer), and Abbee Warmboe (properties designer) will transform the Ritz Theater into a 1920s Speakeasy, putting the audience in the middle of the action. The "Windy City Band" will blow their horns beginning 30 minutes prior to each performance.

Peter Rothstein directs CHICAGO and shares, "I am thrilled to re-imagine this iconic American musical in the intimate Ritz Theater. Watkins, Fosse, Kander, and Ebb have created a brilliant musical satire about the American justice system, media circuses, and a celebrity-driven society."

The cast of CHICAGO includes Britta Ollmann (Latté Da: A Little Night Music, Once, Ragtime, Into the Woods, Steerage Song, and Violet) as Roxie Hart, Michelle de Joya makes her Latté Da debut as Velma Kelly, Robert O. Berdahl makes his Latté Da debut as Billy Flynn, and Regina Marie Williams makes her Latté Da debut at Matron "Mama" Morten, Reed Sigmund (Latté Da: Once) as Amos Hart. The ensemble includes Fernando Collado, Joey Miller, Jaclyn Juola, Dorian Brooke, Elly Stahlke, Jessica Staples, and Maureen Sherman-Mendez.

The creative team for CHICAGO includes Peter Rothstein (director), Denise Prosek (music director), Kelli Foster Warder (choreographer), Eli Sherlock (scenic designer), Alice Fredrickson (costume designer), Paul Bigot (hair and makeup designer) Mary Shabatura (lighting designer), Abbee Warmboe (properties design), Elissa Adams (dramaturg), and Tiffany K. Orr (production stage manager).

Theater Latté Da is an award-winning Twin Cities musical theater company that combines music and story to illuminate the breadth and depth of the human experience. The company seeks to create new connections between story, music, artist, and audience by exploring and expanding the art of musical theater. www.latteda.org

 

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