Ben Apfelbaum

CHICAGO : A GREAT REVIVAL @ THE CAPITOL THEATRE

Production photography by Jeff Busby

Like many great musicals the play is based on true life events. In the 1920’s, murder headlined the front pages of Chicago newspapers on an almost daily basis. Gangland mobs arose to control the illegal liquor and rival gangs murdered each other on a daily basis. However it was women killers who fascinated the Chicago readership the most. At that time Maureen Dallas Watkins covered these trials in Cook County in a gossipy, romance novel like way. In 1926 she wrote a play title Chicago based on the murderesses and in 1927 Cecil De Mille produced a silent film version of it.

In  the 1960’s, Gwen Verdon urged her then husband Bob Fosse to do a musical adaptation of Watkins’ play. Fosse took the idea to Fred Ebb and John Kander with the latter writing the music,  Fred Ebb the lyrics, the book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse and with Fosse directing and choreographing the musical.

In 1975 the play successfully opened on Broadway with the composer modelling each number on a traditional vaudeville tune or on a vaudeville performer. For example Matron ‘Mama’ Morton was based on Sophie Tucker. 

The play’s theme of the pursuit of fame and fortune no matter what the cost, even slaughtered lives, has resonance today in social media with the rise of Social Influencers and people like the Kardashians who became famous for nothing else but being themselves. These people are ‘luftmenschen’, people based on nothing but thin air. 

The current production is based on a 1996 revival by Anne Reinking who was in the original Broadway show and whose highly successful production  and choreography in the style of Bob Fosse has been playing around the world ever since. 

The musical concentrates on the two killers Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly. Roxie Hart has shot her lover three times. After her husband Amos refuses to take the rap for the murder Roxie is sent to the County jail which is run by a kindly governess Matron Mama Morton, the gentleness only ermerging from her if you pay. This is evidenced by the song ‘When you are good to Mama’, raunchily sung by Casey Donovan as Mama.

Both Roxie and Velmar meet a silver tongued lawyer named Billy Flynn. In order to defend Roxie he places her story in a sympathetic manner in all the Chicago newspapers. In this he is facilitated by a journalist, Mary Sunshine, who is based on Maureen Dallas Watkins, the original playwright. A delusional, selfish Roxie believes that this will make her a star. Velmar vies for Billy’s attention as well in the hope that she will get sensational headlines which will continue her previously faltering show business history. Billy Flynn doesn’t concern himself personally with his clients but only with their ability to pay and the opportunity to ‘razzle dazzle’ the circus that is the justice system in Chicago. Hypocritically and delusionally Flynn says that he believes in love. 

The musical is very Brechtian in that all the characters are monsters who are not supposed to garner the sympathy of the audience. To this effect Fosse places the orchestra on the stage, confining the performers to a thin  front part of the stage and thereby making the set and the performers two dimensional. Fosse did not want the distraction of scenery to take away the emphasis on the music, the dancing and the message. 

A thirteen piece orchestra conducted by Musical Director Daniel Edmunds  drives the dancers from percussive jazz rhythms to flapper twenties Charleston. In the quieter moments Edmunds achieves the harmony with those who perform solos or duets. He also proves to be an amiable Master of Ceremonies introducing several of the numbers to heighten the vaudeville theme.

It is after all a musical  with one sympathetic character and and that is Roxie Hart’s hapless husband Amos, played poignantly by Rodney Dobson. His song Cellophane Man wearing oversized white gloves of a sad clown is one of the  highlights of this engaging production. 

Natalie Bassingthwaighte captures the venal greediness and cruelty of her character whilst dancing energetically and harmonising beautifully with the company, Mama and Velma. 

Alinta Chidzey is sensational as Velma. Her hips seem to be dislocated as her legs fly around at  different angles in particular with the fast numbers. Her voice appropriately dominates the company and as I’ve previously mentioned, the ease with which she harmonises. Her sinewy body was beautifully lit by lighting designer Ken Billington. The lighting also emphasised the choreographed moves of the dancers to a heightened effect. 

Tom Burlinson has the smooth vocals to match the slippery egoist that Is Billy Flynn. 

Casey Donovan is charismatic as Matron ‘Mama’ Morton. The growl in her voice which can turn to a sympathetic tone, coupled with an edge of cynicism and greed, made her a standout performer.

Singing with an operatic contralto voice, in contrast to the rest of the company, J. Furtado as Mary Sunshine brings welcome comic relief to the darkness of the play around her.

Also injecting humour into the prevalent evil is Andrew Cook  who plays Fred Casely, Roxie’s lover who is murdered by her. 

Tania Nardini  as Associate Director nimbly overcomes all the limitations of the restrictive stage space to create eye catching tableaux and maximises the dramatic and comedic moments.  

Gary Chryst recreates the New York production choreography which showcases the reason for this musical’s longevity. 

For me the added pleasure that I derived from this production came from well known numbers such as Razzle Dazzle, Cell Block Tango and the hugely popular All That Jazz, 

I understand that years ago the late Richard Wherrett did a new version of Chicago with the Sydney Theatre Company. I do not know how this production fared however I suspect it was a success. 

Nevertheless  I derived huge pleasure from seeing the original Broadway production in all its glory with the supremely talented ensemble and a brilliant and dazzling principal cast.

CHICAGO is playing the Capitol Theatre for a two month season running until the 20th October, 2019. Don’t miss it!

Production photography by Jeff Busby

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborlang. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, United States, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication. To celebrate the opening of a permanent Photography Gallery, the State Library of New South Wales selected 400 shots from its archive of over 2,000,000 images to display in the new gallery. An image of mine was plucked out of the multi million photo archive to be part of the inaugural exhibition.