Final Performances Set For CHICAGO in Canberra

Pre-sales for the final performances of CHICAGO in Canberra have begun today, with general public tickets on sale from Friday 21 June. One of Australia’s favourite musicals, CHICAGO, will play at the Canberra Theatre Centre from 7 to 29 September, the first time a professional production of the Broadway favourite has played in Australia’s capital city.

The longest-running show currently playing on Broadway, this scorching hot masterpiece includes a dazzling score that includes All That Jazz, Cell Block Tango and Razzle Dazzle. Created by the musical theatre talents of John Kander, Fred Ebb and legendary choreographer Bob Fosse, it’s no wonderCHICAGO has been honoured with six Tony Awards®, two Olivier Awards, and a Grammy®.

A stellar cast will perform this iconic production in Canberra as the final stop in their Australian tour. One of Australian theatre’s greatest leading men,Anthony Warlow has stepped into the shoes of the cunning and charismatic lawyer Billy Flynn. Returning to the stage to play the powerful and glamorous Velma Kelly is one of Australia’s favourite actors, Zoë Ventoura, alongside the musical theatre star Lucy Maunder as the irreverent and determined Roxie Hart. As Roxie’s gullible and hapless husband, Amos, is much-loved comedy icon and character actor Peter Rowsthorn. Following her star turn as Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray, Asabi Goodman plays the tough and sassy prison warden Matron ‘Mama’ Morton.

S. Valeri features as the soft-hearted crime reporter Mary Sunshine, while the talented group of ensemble and swings include Hayden Baum, Devon Braithwaite, Olivia Carniato, Angelique Cassimatis, Todd Dewberry, Louis Fontaine, Chaska Halliday, Sarah Heath, Ethan Jones, Savannah Lind, Kristina McNamara, Joe Meldrum, Tom New, Nathan Pinnell, Rania Potaka-Osborne, Emma Russell and Romina Villafranca.

“The sharpest, slickest show on the block” (The Times UK) is currently playing at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre until 28 July, then at the Festival Theatre, Adelaide from 4 August.

“I’m thrilled that our new production of CHICAGO is heading to Canberra,” said producer John Frost for Crossroads Live. “CHICAGO has everything that people love about a Broadway musical - a story of fame, fortune and all that jazz, one show-stopping number after another and the most amazing dancing you’ve ever seen. It’s receiving rave reviews and sold out performances, so Canberra, come along and enjoy the razzle dazzle of this New York institution."

Set amidst the decadence of the 1920s, CHICAGO is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago’s slickest criminal lawyer Billy Flynn to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today's tabloids.

CHICAGO, which is based on the 1926 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, has a legendary book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1996 Broadway revival of CHICAGO is choreographed by Tony Award winner Ann Reinking in the style of Bob Fosse and is directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie. CHICAGO features set design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by William Ivey Long, lighting design by Tony Award winner Ken Billington and sound design by Scott Lehrer.

Murder, greed, corruption, exploitation, adultery, treachery… and All That Jazz. What else could you desire in a musical? The original and the best, CHICAGOis back. It would be a crime to miss it!

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