ENTERTAINMENT

Review: Broadway's 'Chicago' still hot after all these years

Kerry Lengel
The Republic | azcentral.com

As a marketing slogan, "Always 'Chicago'" will sooner or later prove to be hyperbole, but the longevity of Kander and Ebb's Jazz Age musical is more than impressive.

It was a hit when it premiered in 1975, but the 1996 revival is a phenomenon. As it approaches the 20-year mark, it's the second longest-running show in Broadway history, eclipsed only by "The Phantom of the Opera."

The touring company of "Chicago" is back at Tempe's ASU Gammage for a three-night stand, and it has all of the old "Razzle Dazzle" fans expect, from the smoky-hot onstage jazz band to the unabashedly sensual dance numbers "in the style of Bob Fosse."

The lead cast members are all "Chicago" veterans. Terra C. MacLeod is the sultry and (sometimes) sophisticated Velma Kelly, a vaudeville star who claims to have no memory of killing her co-stars, who also happened to be her husband and her sister. Dylis Croman is her déclassé rival-in-crime, Roxie Hart, who hopes to parlay publicity of her upcoming murder trial into a showbiz career of her own. And John O'Hurley — best known as J. Peterman from TV's "Seinfeld" — is their slick, smarmy lawyer, Billy Flynn.

Anyone who thinks O'Hurley is an example of celebrity gimmickry hasn't heard O'Hurley's musky baritone. No doubt this is a case of type-casting, but the actor's goofy gravitas, not to mention his perfect shock of white hair, is so perfect for the role that no one could possibly complain.

But it's Croman's brassy, crass but somehow winsome performance that reveals the heart of "Chicago." In the confessional musical monologue "Roxie," she offers striptease glimpses of fragile humanity behind the cynical artifice that drives her character, the plot and the staging.

The latter is the signature achievement of the revival version, originally directed by Walter Bobbie. Other than the bandstand, which takes up most of the stage, there is no set to speak of, and nary a visual reference to the time and place the story is set in. Instead, the ensemble is dressed all in black for a Gothic cabaret, flashing the audience with enough spread-eagles to make Sharon Stone blush.

Yet, despite the in-your-face sexuality of this acerbic satire, there is a remarkable subtlety at work. This is one musical that isn't afraid to stop for a breath, to let the moment sink in and the sinuous score and sly lyrics slip under your skin.

So many Broadway shows seem desperate to please, but not "Chicago." "Chicago" is confident enough in the strength of its music and its storytelling. It knows you cannot help but be seduced.

Reach the reporter at kerry.lengel@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4896.

Broadway Across America: 'Chicago'

Reviewed Friday, March 27. Remaining performances: 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 28; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, March 29. ASU Gammage, Mill Avenue and Apache Boulevard, Tempe. $25 and up. 480-965-3434, asugammage.com.