'Chicago' dances into Detroit with luscious ladies and all that jazz

"C'mon babe, why don't we paint the town ... and all that jazz," croons a luscious lady in black as nearly a dozen equally sexy dancers in black writhe and gyrate their way through a jaw-dropping, toe-tapping, hip-shaking opening number.

This, boys and girls, is not your parents' Broadway musical.

Actually, "Chicago," now painting the town black, white and blood red at Detroit's Fisher Theater, is your parents' Broadway musical.

Originally produced in the late '60s, John Kander and Fred Ebb's masterpiece of murder, malice, mayhem and music is currently enjoying a full-scale revival that began on Broadway in 1996 and has spread its merry mayhem around the country in a slow, slinky fashion worthy of Bob Fosse's sensual choreography.

Music and fashion are the passion of the new "Chicago," presented in a no-frills style that puts all the characters in revealing black attire, puts the orchestra on the stage, puts no props in people's hands (save a few bar chairs and several newspapers) and puts the audience in a beautiful, corrupt, hilarious world of jazz and liquor, blood and guts and fame and fortune.

In this world of the late '20s' Windy City, we meet Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, played by Belle Calaway and Stephanie Pope respectively, two lovely, fun-lovin' women who have dreams of careers in vaudeville and all-around celebrity - attainable dreams if only they can beat their pesky murder raps.

Enter high-powered sleazebag Billy Flynn (played with charming aplomb by Alan Thicke), who claims to be so good a lawyer that "If Jesus Christ lived in Chicago and had $5,000, things would've turned out differently."

Still, Flynn innocently claims in his first number, "All I Care About is Love." On the other hand, everyone else seems to be worried about headlines and popular opinion.

Roxie and Velma spend the duration of the show trying to outdo one another to grab the front page and learning how to beat the system from Billy, with a little ambition and a whole lot of showbiz "Razzle Dazzle."

Most of the glitz and glamour of this "Chicago" is due to the timeless words and music of Kander and Ebb and the brilliant choreography by Ann Reinking, inspired by Fosse's original production of "Chicago."

Nearly every song in the show is now classic, from the opening "All That Jazz," to the sly "Razzle Dazzle," to the uproarious "Class," and the joyous "Roxie."

Changed slightly from the Broadway production, which is still going strong at the Schubert Theater after losing its Tony-honored leading lady Bebe Neuwirth as Velma, the touring company now docked at the Fisher has slowed down several tracks to allow the dancers to keep up and has omitted several complicated dance moves, including the awe-inspiring, so-very-Fosse hand-to-head, feet-to-floor shuffle where twelve people move as one.

Still, the witty book and lyrics prove "Chicago"'s subtle power, creating a truly American atmosphere where celebrity and the tabloid media are all powerful and humanity is non-existent, a tale that could just as easily be told in the present day, on the set of "The Jerry Springer Show."

This dead-on cultural criticism places "Chicago" as the perfect millennial musical, making us laugh at our absurd end-of-the-century selves and how such media obsession has existed throughout the 20th Century, instead of preaching for us to change our ways, as in "Rent," in which every other word is some form of "millennium."

Of course, the people of "Chicago" are much less intelligent and much more shallow than your average American, but that's what makes them so darn endearing.

Belle Calaway's Roxie Hart is the epitome of calculating ditziness as she slinks and sleeps her way to an acquittal and a swell act in vaudeville, proving Calaway a comic treasure whose character is much smarter than she pretends to be.

As her nemesis, Velma Kelly, Stephanie Pope turns in an equally engaging performance, bemoaning the ill state of the world even as she's crooning, high-kicking and clawing her way to the top of it.

The supporting performances are just as great with Carol Wood sufficiently sassying up the role of corrupt prison matron Mama Morton with her sly asides and booming voice; R. Bean as the easily swayed reporter Mary Sunshine, who's so dense she still sees "A Little Bit of Good" in the shady characters that populate "Chicago" and Michael Tucci, Sonny in the film version of "Grease," quietly triumphant as put-upon husband Amos Hart, who gets the biggest laughs of the show for his rendition of "Mister Cellophane."

But the real payoff of "Chicago" is Alan Thicke, who exudes sheer star presence as Billy Flynn, the most morally bankrupt of all "Chicago"'s miscreants.

"Chicago" itself is far from bankrupt. It's a wealth of humor, hormones and halter tops, that'll titillate as it tickles.

"Chicago" calls itself the drop-dead Broadway musical and only a cadaver would walk away unsatisfied.

"Chicago" runs through Oct. 11 at the Fisher Theater. Tickets for all performances are available from Ticketmaster at 248-645-6666.

Sept. 22, 1998
Fisher Theater, Detroit

Chicago

REVIEW

09-25-98