Chicago

Chicago
Music: John Kander. Lyrics: Fred Ebb. Book: Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins. Penrith Musical Comedy Company. The Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre, Penrith. May 5 – 13, 2017.

Penrith Musical and Comedy Company are first NSW company to present the brilliant Kander and Ebb musical Chicago on its return to the circuit this year, with lots of excitement and expectation as other societies follow suit during the year. Choosing to perform in the smaller concert hall instead of the larger theatre was a good decision. With a very minimal set design, the space worked to their advantage and nothing got lost.

Sally Elphick’s performance as the murderess Roxie Hart, who kills her lover Fred Casely (Nathan Arnott), had many shining moments including her opening solo “Funny Honey”. Elphick’s vocals in all numbers were very strong and her dancing seemed effortless for such a challenging role.

Annastasia Denton played the role of Velma Kelly well and honestly, emphasizing the character’s star quality in the Cook County Jail scenes. Nerves seemed to play a part throughout the number “All That Jazz” at the beginning of the show but they faded by the time she got to her solo in “The Cell Block Tango”. Annastasia’s dancing occasionally let her down, but she did well with this hard style. Each of the four murderesses in the number (Laura Hodge, Scarlett Johnson, Melanie Rinaldi and Alexandra Marc) were vocally sound.

PMCC regular Rachael Gillfeather brought a real motherly energy to the Matron Mama Morton role. Her accent was precise and clear, while her rousing rendition of “When You’re Good to Mama” was one to remember.

The two cameo roles of Amos Hart (Grant Jones) and Mary Sunshine the Reporter (Anne Cefai) were perfectly portrayed, with Sunshine’s reveal at the end of the second act a surprise choice.

Not only doesChicago the musical need to be vocally excellent, the Fosse style choreography must be spot on. Craig Paris as Musical Director, has given his all to get his cast sounding amazing and he just about achieved this. His large hidden orchestra sounded flawless, although they could have been louder in parts.

Alexandra Marc’s choreography was performed well as a whole in chorus numbers and she did a great job with an amateur production. Some numbers lacked a big effect though, particularly Billy Flynn’s “All I Care About”.

Tina Jones’ direction had some wonderful classic moments and made us really feel like we were in 1920’s era of booze and Jazz. A few more set pieces would have helped us visualise whether we were in the Jail or Flynn’s Office etc. Costuming the ensemble was very effective, but I feel the leads could have had more attention to detail.

Penrith have excelled in bringing this popular show back to the amateur circuit.

James Russell

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