Part musical theatre, part burlesque, Chicago the Musical uses the same kinds of provocative dance moves that Bob Fosse used in the night club sequences of Cabaret. Where some lesser musicals leave you wanting the numbers to stop and the action to continue, in Chicago the music and wonderfully choreographed dance numbers are the driving force and leave you wanting more and more. The plot here is no mere device, but the remnant of a satirical comedy about the state of justice in 1920’s America. If it’s true, as the adage has it, that you can sell anything with sex, Chicago is the story of how you can pervert the course of justice with sex in a system where corruption and credulity go hand in hand.
The women of the chorus line, at first glance mere sex objects in black underwear and employing the trademark Fosse groin-swirling, legs akimbo, strutting eroticism, soon show themselves to be a bunch of tough cookies. The Cell Block Tango with its defiant refrain, ‘They had it coming’, shows them as carving out their own justice in what were, by modern standards, lawless times in which racketeers in prostitution, gambling and liquor behaved like warlords on dangerous streets where guns were freely available.
In a sense Billy Flynn is the biggest whore for willing to prostitute the law to his cupidity. John Partridge as Billy sets out to cynically seduce anyone who can further his purposes – to secure ‘not guilty’ verdicts for his female clients who are accused of murdering their male partners. The seduction, reliant on the sexist prejudices of the time, applies to the public, the press, the accused and the jury alike and has as its main weapon an unctuous, swaggering charm, delivered as much to the audience as his chosen victims on stage.
The wonderfully sleazy onstage band under Ben Atkinson, is a tight unit that gives the essential musical character to the show whilst forming the backdrop to the action. The two leading ladies, Sophie Carmen-Jones (Velma) and Hayley Tamaddon (Roxie) each give great individual performances, but also lead the high quality ensemble in the expertly polished song and dance numbers. It’s worth just picking out Ms Carmen-Jones’s performance, in the cartoon style imagining of a trial scene, as a tour de force of energy, invention and execution.
This is a show fizzing with sexual energy and some standout performances, but above all a number of very slick and provocative ensemble routines delivered with wit and sophistication. ★★★★☆ Graham Wyles 5th July 2016
