Review: 'Chicago' Cast Heats Up The Stage This Summer
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Sure, the award-winning musical was about women who violently kill their husbands and then use their crime to become famous, but sex sells and the cast was selling it – without going over the top.
From the costumes to the suggestive scenes and the double entendre, the cast, under the direction of Artistic Director and choreographer Scott Michaels, knew just how to play it without being obscene.
While about every actress in “Chicago” at some point played a murderess, the show really belongs to the two female leads. Hillary Smith as Velma Kelly and Erika Henningsen as Roxie Hart nailed their parts from start to finish.
Velma is a Vaudeville singer who may or may not have killed her husband and sister for having an affair. She’s sent to Cook County Jail, hires the best attorney in town, Billy Flynn (David Schlumpf), and becomes famous. That is, until Roxie enters the picture, and the two women fight each other and other murdering women to keep their fame.
Roxie is sent to prison for shooting her lover Fred Casely (Rob Montgomery), though initially Roxie’s husband Amos (Dan Smith) takes the blame. But not for too long. Thanks to the advice of the jail matron (Sarah Jackson), Roxie also hires Flynn as her attorney and he helps Roxie gets famous in order to avoid the noose.
In their roles as Velma and Roxie, Hillary Smith and Henningsen respectively embody the characters. Hillary Smith plays Velma as being a no-holds-barred femme fatale perfectly, while Henningsen’s Roxie initially is a naive adulteress who becomes a fame-seeking manipulator. Henningsen brings Roxie’s metamorphosis into the light through her flawless performance. But of the two women, Velma was my favorite because of the tough-as-nails approach in which Smith delivered the role.
As far as their vocal abilities – outstanding.
Velma begins the musical with the favorite number “All That Jazz”, and Hillary Smith gives it all the razzle dazzle that it deserves. More than an hour after the show is over and I’m writing this review, the song is still stuck in my head thanks to her perfect rendition.
She’s also mesmerizing in “I Can’t Do It Alone” and “Class”.
For Henningsen, her singing scored the highest with me on “Tap Dance” and “Me and My Baby”, but every note she belted was sublime.
In my interview Monday with Schlumpf about Flynn, I asked Schlumpf if Flynn was a hero, anti-hero or out-and-out villain. Schlumpf leaned toward anti-hero, but left that up to the audience, though he did point out that a line in the musical indicated Flynn was the voice of the “downtrodden.”
Based on Schlumpf’s excellent performance, I’m labeling Flynn as an anti-hero.
Flynn gets his clients free, even though they deserve jail time. Plus, the means by which Flynn gets them free – manipulation, lies, performances – does the wheels of justice no service. He turns the court into a three-ring circus, literally.
Velma and Roxie live to perform vaudeville another day thanks to Flynn, but at what cost to society? If Flynn was any sort of hero, he would have represented Hunyak (the talented Lexie Plath) and saved her from being the first woman to be hanged in the Cook County Jail in four decades. Hunyak also was the only character in the show who claimed innocence and was probably 100 percent truthful.
But, there’s no money or notoriety involved, and Flynn doesn’t do pro-bono work.
Whether you agree or disagree, you will leave the Wagon Wheel impressed with Schlumpf’s showmanship. His mannerisms, Chicago accent and the overall way he handles himself on stage made Schlumpf the perfect WWT actor to play Billy Flynn. He was memorable as Corny Collins in last year’s production of “Hairspray”, and he’s just as unforgettable as Flynn.
Amos really loves Roxie throughout the musical. But to everyone else, he might as well be cellophane. He’s used, forgotten, lied to and stolen from. As a child, one day he came home from school and his parents had moved.
Playing Amos, Dan Smith really captures the average, sad, lonely and pathetic character.
But what really will hold your attention with Dan Smith is when he delivers the number “Mister Cellophane” in Act II dressed in hobo attire. He gives such a captivating performance of that song, you will have total sympathy for Amos. It actually was one of my favorite songs thanks to the emotional delivery by Smith.
Besides playing Fred Casely, Montgomery also gets the role of Aaron and an ensemble member. Like his performance of a UPS delivery guy in “Legally Blonde”, Montgomery really stands out as an actor when he’s on stage.
Whether he’s tap dancing during “Tap Dance”, dressed as a baby for “Me and My Baby”, announcing Velma and Roxie’s performance at the end of Act II or playing Fred, Montgomery’s talent just begs for a major lead role.
If we’re lucky, he’ll be back next summer and maybe Montgomery gets some major acting time in either “The Wedding Singer” or “The Nerd”, both shows I could see him in as a lead. He’s really got a great presence on stage, and if you watch his performance closely, you can see all kinds of future possibilities.
All the supporting cast members really help make “Chicago” a fun night. However, there are two more which demand that I mention them by name.
Mary Sunshine is a radio reporter – believed to be female – who is easily manipulated by Flynn and sees everything coming up daisies. However, playing in the role is Lee Slobotkin.
Slobotkin played Peter Pan earlier this season, a male character typically played by a woman. Now, Slobotkin is doing drag, but it’s some of the best drag that’s ever graced the Wagon Wheel stage. Whether Mary Sunshine is singing “A Little Bit of Good” or just on the stage, Slobotkin almost makes you forget he’s a guy under that wig and dress.
Slobotkin does a better woman than Robert Miller did last year in “Hairspray”.
The other character is the matron. Her big number is “When You’re Good to Mama”, and Jackson definitely has a good voice for that number. She does things with the feather boa that you wouldn’t want to do in other places.[[In-content Ad]]However, “When You’re Good to Mama” is the one place where the double entendre could have been played up more. I completely recognize that some Wagon Wheel ticket buyers may not have wanted to see more sexuality in that number, but by the very nature of that song and what is said during it, it demands that a possible lesbian angle be more expressed in it.
It’s sung by a matron in a woman’s prison and talks about helping each other out. You get the drift. But what is in the Wagon Wheel version of “Chicago” omits the lesbian vibe altogether, leaving a more sanitized – but still good – performance.
Set in the 1920s, the era is really emphasized thanks to costume designer Stephen R. Hollenbeck. Looking at the costumes, especially those of the women, you feel like you’ve been transported back to the days of flappers and jazz. Each of the actors changes multiple times, and each costume is just as good as the one before it.
Michaels also did a fine job on this show as far as choreography. I was especially impressed with Roxie and Velma’s final dance at the end of the show, but every step was a show stopper including the number “Cell Block Tango”.
During “Tango”, six different women sang about how they ended up in prison because they killed their man. When they got to the point where they stabbed, shot or poisoned him, the women pulled out red scarves, indicating blood and death.
The scarves were a small thing, but effective visually. It was another way to advance the story through dance, song or accessories.
Sometimes, it’s just the small things that make a show even better.
Overall, my rating of the musical “Chicago” (out of four): 3.5.
Sure, the award-winning musical was about women who violently kill their husbands and then use their crime to become famous, but sex sells and the cast was selling it – without going over the top.
From the costumes to the suggestive scenes and the double entendre, the cast, under the direction of Artistic Director and choreographer Scott Michaels, knew just how to play it without being obscene.
While about every actress in “Chicago” at some point played a murderess, the show really belongs to the two female leads. Hillary Smith as Velma Kelly and Erika Henningsen as Roxie Hart nailed their parts from start to finish.
Velma is a Vaudeville singer who may or may not have killed her husband and sister for having an affair. She’s sent to Cook County Jail, hires the best attorney in town, Billy Flynn (David Schlumpf), and becomes famous. That is, until Roxie enters the picture, and the two women fight each other and other murdering women to keep their fame.
Roxie is sent to prison for shooting her lover Fred Casely (Rob Montgomery), though initially Roxie’s husband Amos (Dan Smith) takes the blame. But not for too long. Thanks to the advice of the jail matron (Sarah Jackson), Roxie also hires Flynn as her attorney and he helps Roxie gets famous in order to avoid the noose.
In their roles as Velma and Roxie, Hillary Smith and Henningsen respectively embody the characters. Hillary Smith plays Velma as being a no-holds-barred femme fatale perfectly, while Henningsen’s Roxie initially is a naive adulteress who becomes a fame-seeking manipulator. Henningsen brings Roxie’s metamorphosis into the light through her flawless performance. But of the two women, Velma was my favorite because of the tough-as-nails approach in which Smith delivered the role.
As far as their vocal abilities – outstanding.
Velma begins the musical with the favorite number “All That Jazz”, and Hillary Smith gives it all the razzle dazzle that it deserves. More than an hour after the show is over and I’m writing this review, the song is still stuck in my head thanks to her perfect rendition.
She’s also mesmerizing in “I Can’t Do It Alone” and “Class”.
For Henningsen, her singing scored the highest with me on “Tap Dance” and “Me and My Baby”, but every note she belted was sublime.
In my interview Monday with Schlumpf about Flynn, I asked Schlumpf if Flynn was a hero, anti-hero or out-and-out villain. Schlumpf leaned toward anti-hero, but left that up to the audience, though he did point out that a line in the musical indicated Flynn was the voice of the “downtrodden.”
Based on Schlumpf’s excellent performance, I’m labeling Flynn as an anti-hero.
Flynn gets his clients free, even though they deserve jail time. Plus, the means by which Flynn gets them free – manipulation, lies, performances – does the wheels of justice no service. He turns the court into a three-ring circus, literally.
Velma and Roxie live to perform vaudeville another day thanks to Flynn, but at what cost to society? If Flynn was any sort of hero, he would have represented Hunyak (the talented Lexie Plath) and saved her from being the first woman to be hanged in the Cook County Jail in four decades. Hunyak also was the only character in the show who claimed innocence and was probably 100 percent truthful.
But, there’s no money or notoriety involved, and Flynn doesn’t do pro-bono work.
Whether you agree or disagree, you will leave the Wagon Wheel impressed with Schlumpf’s showmanship. His mannerisms, Chicago accent and the overall way he handles himself on stage made Schlumpf the perfect WWT actor to play Billy Flynn. He was memorable as Corny Collins in last year’s production of “Hairspray”, and he’s just as unforgettable as Flynn.
Amos really loves Roxie throughout the musical. But to everyone else, he might as well be cellophane. He’s used, forgotten, lied to and stolen from. As a child, one day he came home from school and his parents had moved.
Playing Amos, Dan Smith really captures the average, sad, lonely and pathetic character.
But what really will hold your attention with Dan Smith is when he delivers the number “Mister Cellophane” in Act II dressed in hobo attire. He gives such a captivating performance of that song, you will have total sympathy for Amos. It actually was one of my favorite songs thanks to the emotional delivery by Smith.
Besides playing Fred Casely, Montgomery also gets the role of Aaron and an ensemble member. Like his performance of a UPS delivery guy in “Legally Blonde”, Montgomery really stands out as an actor when he’s on stage.
Whether he’s tap dancing during “Tap Dance”, dressed as a baby for “Me and My Baby”, announcing Velma and Roxie’s performance at the end of Act II or playing Fred, Montgomery’s talent just begs for a major lead role.
If we’re lucky, he’ll be back next summer and maybe Montgomery gets some major acting time in either “The Wedding Singer” or “The Nerd”, both shows I could see him in as a lead. He’s really got a great presence on stage, and if you watch his performance closely, you can see all kinds of future possibilities.
All the supporting cast members really help make “Chicago” a fun night. However, there are two more which demand that I mention them by name.
Mary Sunshine is a radio reporter – believed to be female – who is easily manipulated by Flynn and sees everything coming up daisies. However, playing in the role is Lee Slobotkin.
Slobotkin played Peter Pan earlier this season, a male character typically played by a woman. Now, Slobotkin is doing drag, but it’s some of the best drag that’s ever graced the Wagon Wheel stage. Whether Mary Sunshine is singing “A Little Bit of Good” or just on the stage, Slobotkin almost makes you forget he’s a guy under that wig and dress.
Slobotkin does a better woman than Robert Miller did last year in “Hairspray”.
The other character is the matron. Her big number is “When You’re Good to Mama”, and Jackson definitely has a good voice for that number. She does things with the feather boa that you wouldn’t want to do in other places.[[In-content Ad]]However, “When You’re Good to Mama” is the one place where the double entendre could have been played up more. I completely recognize that some Wagon Wheel ticket buyers may not have wanted to see more sexuality in that number, but by the very nature of that song and what is said during it, it demands that a possible lesbian angle be more expressed in it.
It’s sung by a matron in a woman’s prison and talks about helping each other out. You get the drift. But what is in the Wagon Wheel version of “Chicago” omits the lesbian vibe altogether, leaving a more sanitized – but still good – performance.
Set in the 1920s, the era is really emphasized thanks to costume designer Stephen R. Hollenbeck. Looking at the costumes, especially those of the women, you feel like you’ve been transported back to the days of flappers and jazz. Each of the actors changes multiple times, and each costume is just as good as the one before it.
Michaels also did a fine job on this show as far as choreography. I was especially impressed with Roxie and Velma’s final dance at the end of the show, but every step was a show stopper including the number “Cell Block Tango”.
During “Tango”, six different women sang about how they ended up in prison because they killed their man. When they got to the point where they stabbed, shot or poisoned him, the women pulled out red scarves, indicating blood and death.
The scarves were a small thing, but effective visually. It was another way to advance the story through dance, song or accessories.
Sometimes, it’s just the small things that make a show even better.
Overall, my rating of the musical “Chicago” (out of four): 3.5.
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