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PLAYHOUSE RISING TO THE CHALLENGE STAGING CHICAGO
BY RICK GOULD
Record-Eagle staff writer

The musical "Chicago" is a daunting undertaking for Traverse City's Old Town Playhouse for several reasons.

Not only did nearly 100 people lend their time and talents to the huge production, but they also had the double-edged sword of putting on a show with a huge recognition factor, thanks to the Oscar-winning movie version last year.

Plus, the revisionist musical itself, created by Bob Fosse, John Kander and Fred Ebb, has at times been considered risky, with its non-traditional characters and music conventions. But OTP comes through once again with another solid holiday musical production.

Director Michelle Perez does a fine job of keeping the singing, dancing and story moving — which isn't easy since she brings the orchestra on stage, but it works. And it's appropriate, too, since the songs are so informative of the characters' motivations.

And these characters have lots of motives, since they're always scheming. Roxie Hart (Jennifer Allen) shoots her lying lover at the play's start. Taken to the big house,
Roxie looks to matron Mama Morton (Sarah T.Hampton) and fellow murderess Velma Kelly (Christine Mclver Smith) for guidance. Morton is glad to offer "motherly" help — for a fee — and venal Velma wants nothing to do with heartless Roxie, at first.

The three women perform songs from "Chicago" that mirror each character's philosophy or personality: Velma's devil-may-care "All That Jazz," Roxie's two-faced "Funny Honey" and Morton's sly "When You're Good to Mama."

These songs also define the performers as well: Smith's Velma is better belting out the tough-girl come-on of "Jazz" than later, with the more complex "I Can't Do It Alone^" Allen as sweet/tart Roxie mixes singing and acting best, from alternately purring and snarling "Funny Honey"to the lovely "Nowadays;" Hampton does "Mama" proud and later has a fine duet with Smith's Velma in the satirical lament "Class," while she plays the corrupt prison matron with a burlesque edge.

The scene-stealer is Brian W. Dungjen as slick lawyer Billy Flynn. Oozing insincere charm to great comedic effect, Dungjen combines this with strong singing in "All I Care About." However, the real showstopper comes with "We Both Reached For the Gun," when he expertly leads the cast through the song's rapid-fire lyrics.

Mike Axford does good work as Roxie's put-upon husband, Amos Hart, but really comes to life in his number, the melancholy "Mr. Cellophane."

After Roxie's acquittal and three great numbers — the infectious "Razzle Dazzle" and the aforementioned "Class" and "Nowadays," the last two numbers — "R.S.V.P." and "Keep It Hot"
— though performed adequately, seemed a bit of a letdown.

And since this is a Fosse musical, dancing is a big part of the show. Considering the limited space, the dancing is well-staged and the performers surrounding the leads do
a fine job, often with an added comedic zing.

The orchestra brings oomph to the Roaring '20s-style numbers, Phil Murphy's. orchestra set is flashy and Kathy Verstraete's costumes are versatile, especially when alternating between
nightclub and prison wear.

All in all, the creative folks, at OTP have done "Chicago" proud.

Two things to note: Despite an added performance, "Chicago" is sold out at this point. Also, a reminder to audiences that "Chicago" is a musical with adult themes and language.

Rick Gould is special sections editor and an occasional writer at the Record-Eagle

A MUSICAL VAUDEVILLE
"Chicago" shines at Old Town Playhouse
BY NANCY SUNDSTROM
It's got murder, mayhem, manipulation, the media, and great music—everything a raucous evening at the
theatre should have. No wonder Traverse City's Old Town Playhouse has been wanting to re-stage "Chicago"
for some time now.

After all, it's been 20 years since the play was last performed there, and quite a bit has changed during that time. Written by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse with music by John Kander and Fred Ebb, "Chicago: A Musical Vaudeville" played to a Broadway audience for the first time in 1975, but fared better in terms of critical and audience response when it had a Great White Way revival in 1996. Numerous film directors and stars circled the project for years trying to bring it to the big screen, before Broadway veteran Rob Marshall came up with a way to successfully stage it for the movies. His efforts resulted in a number of Oscars, including the 2002 prize for Best Picture.

More than three years ago, Old Town Playhouse (OTP) began planning to offer local audiences the chance to see it live as one of the centerpieces of their 2003-2004 season. The show, which is being directed by veteran OTP actress Michelle Perez, with musical direction by Joe Rice and vocal direction by Fred Szczepanski, is running through November with 8 p.m. shows on November-7-8, 13-15, 20-22 and 28-29. There are two 3 p.m. matinee dates on November l6 and 23.

Perez says that her reasons for wanting to direct "Chicago" included the challenge of helming not just a major musical, but one originally sculpted by the late Fosse, recognized as one of the true geniuses of American musical theatre.

"What's not to appreciate about this play?" asked Perez. "Fosse's work is outstanding in that it's fun, sexy and just downright cool. The music is a dream and the material is so unique and rich. Besides, what isn't fun about murder, jazz and corruption?"

Perez says that while she applied to direct the show long before she knew it was being made into a film, there was a certain amount of intimidation that came into play after it won six Academy Awards.

"I decided to leave all that behind and get to work," she explained. "To focus on the enormity of following up the movie would have been totally counter productive. I embraced it as a challenge to deal with, thanked them for the extra publicity and got busy. I have fought very hard to not allow this production to shrink in the wake of the movie, and instead, to allow our cast and orchestra the freedom to make this our production and not some attempt to copy the movie."

To do just that, Perez says she has held back from watching the film, and has chosen to emphasize the vaudevillian aspects of the play. Something else that she and choreographer Nicole Girard felt strongly about was "staying as loyal to Fosse as possible," which meant creating dances that evoked the distinct Fosse style of choreography, which has always been characterized by sleek, sassy and sexy movement accented with finger snaps and props like canes and top hats.

The story behind the story of the show is an interesting one that dates back to real-life events that took place in the Windy City in the early 1920's. Maurine Dallas Watkins was a reporter for the Chicago Tribune circa 1924 who was assigned the "sob sister" stories and also kept a journal about the many cases she covered as a reporter. In 1925, while taking a playwriting course at Yale University, she decided to write about the true tales of Beulah Sheriff Annan who shot and killed Harry Kalstedt, and Belva Gaertner who shot and killed Walter Law.

Thus, "Chicago" was born, and the original dramatic version of the play was first produced on Broadway in 1926 and had a successful run of 172 performances. A silent film followed in 1927, and the title and story were changed for the 1947 movie, "Roxie Hart," with Ginger Rogers. By the 1950's, author Watkins consistently refused permission for new productions of "Chicago." Some speculated she felt some shame for her role in helping to get the two female killers acquitted of murder. Following her death from cancer in 1969, her estate sold the
rights to the play, leading to the development of "Chicago: A Musical Vaudeville" in 1975.

That last version of events follows a married chorus girl named Roxie Hart (Jennifer Allen), who has strayed from her husband Amos (Mike Axford) with her lover Fred (Fred Szczepanski). She shoots Fred and talks Amos into taking blame for the crime, but when Amos learns the truth, he squeals on Roxie, sending her to the Cook County Jail. There, she meets Velma (Christine Smith), one of a bunch of "merry murderesses" under the watchful eye of Matron Mama Morton (Sarah Hampton). Velma is the kind of media celebrity Roxie aspires to become, and to do so, she enlists the aid of Velma's flashy lawyer, Billy Flynn (Brian Dungjen). Roxie and Velma begin to one-up each other to keep the attention of Billy and the public, both of whom prove to have fickle attention spans, and ultimately need to turn to each other when their 15 minutes of fame is up.

As Roxie, actress Allen is having her first OTP experience. She says that she has wanted to become involved with OTP since moving to the area four years ago, but that in between her full-time career as Art Director for Idea Stream and part-time work as a back-up singer and dancer for Judy Harrison and High Impact, she hasn't been able to find the right role and play at a time when her schedule would permit— until she learned about "Chicago."

"When I heard it was coming, I started to think about how to work it into my schedule," shared Alien. "It wasn't until the week before auditions that I actually decided to try out, so I kind of went in blind, not knowing what to expect. The experience has been just great. The people in the cast and crew are wonderful and the role is fun. Playing the character of Roxie is wild. Many people who know me are shocked to find that I could play such a manipulative, murderous character. But she's fun in her efforts to capture the spotlight. As a vocalist, I love performing, so I think I add a level of pizzazz to Roxie's numbers."

Allen adds that while she feels like a "new kid on the block," she's a veteran theatre-goer and audience member who knows what to expect from a great show. "So I'm determined to deliver just that—a great show," she said. "It's sexy and sassy, yes, but really quite comical, too. You can't help but get swept up in the musical numbers."

Rounding out the cast for OTP's production are Don Kuehlhom, Jody Kluck, Chelsea Whiteford, Kat Brown, Leah Doriot, Nicolle Girard, Sherry Brehm, Brett Nichols, Amy Warner, Lauren Odar, William Floto, Daniel Jablonski, Sam P. Copeland III, Matt Zyble, Sam Clark, Chandra JJ. Dongvillo-Demers, Liz Kuester, Terry Lawrence and Dana Monks.

Orchestra members are Paulette Parsons, Susan Snyder-Nunn, Megan Doyle, Glenn Coughenour, George Townsend, Jerry Leaf, Rachel Woodruff, Mike Nunn, Jeff Kroeger, Kristin Kohler, Nikki Stahl, George Bliss, Chris Mericle, Mitch Ronk, Craig Jones, Levi Wineman, Roland Woodring and Wendy Maddy.

For ticket information and reservations, call the OTP Box Office at (231) 947-2443 or visit www.oldtownplayhouse.com. On Friday, November 14, there will be a post-performance Razzle Reception at 310 Tapas, Traverse City, following the show from 10:30 p.m.-l a.m. where the public can meet the cast, and enjoy hors d'oeuvres and a complimentary drink. Tickets for the reception are $25 (they do not include a ticket for the show) and can be reserved by calling the OTP Business Office at (231) 947-2210.

PREPARE TO BE DAZZLED

MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
Record-Eagle
staff writer

TRAVERSE CITY — Michelle Perez may have been the only one in America who wasn't thrilled when Hollywood decided to adapt "Chicago" for the big screen.

"It's been the bane of my existence ever since I heard," said Perez, who signed on to direct the upcoming production of the musical at the Old Town Playhouse before she learned it was coming to movie theaters. "I was biting my nails when it won six Academy Awards."

"Chicago" opens at the playhouse Nov. 7, and Perez is counting on the musical's box office and critical success — it won the Oscar for Best Picture — to bring new audiences to the community theater. But she said the hype surrounding the film has placed enormous pressure on her. And living up to some expectations could be hard, since the OTP production is not based on the Hollywood blockbuster, but on Bob Fosse's 1975 Broadway stage version.

"What I saw them doing in the movie was all so much more serious," said the 32-year-old computer hardware specialist, who chose not to see the film but did view trailers for it. "This is not serious. It's shtick. It's more vaudeville. We're not trying to create realism here. We wanted to be faithful to the Fosse version, not what Hollywood thinks Fosse is."

A dark parable of American justice, "Chicago" was originally a 1926 play by Chicago Tribune reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins. It tells the story ofRoxie Hart, a chorus girl who murders her two-timing boyfriend, tries to pin it on her clueless husband, and uses the trial to propel herself to showbiz stardom along with her rival, Velma Kelly.

The musical extravaganza features no fewer than 22 production numbers including "All That Jazz," "Razzle Dazzle" and "Class."

Unlike most musicals, "Chicago" is really a revue with stand-alone dialogue that serves to tie in the numbers, said Perez. And unlike the movie musical, which features period costumes and sets, the stage version is merely suggestive of the Roaring Twenties Chicago in which it takes place.

The Old Town Playhouse backdrop features Phil Murphy's neon cityscape, augmented by stylized bandstands and "glitzed- out" prosceniums. In an unusual move, Perez has chosen to make the 12-piece orchestra part of the show by placing them on the small stage with the performers. The result leaves little room for traditional sight lines and blocking and lots for creativity,
she said.

"It's been incredibly challenging to figure out how you make (the blocking) interesting when it's just a spotlight on the actors," she said. "We literally have no free space."

OTP first staged the musical in 1983 with now-veteran actor Brian Dungjen in his debut chorus role. Two decades later, Dungjen returns in a leading role as razzle-dazzle lawyer Billy Flynn.

The large OTP cast also stars Jennifer Alien as Roxie Hart and Christine Smith as Velma Kelly. Supporting actors include Sarah Hampton as the prison matron, Mike Axford as Roxie's husband Amos Hart and Amy Warner as reporter Mary Sunshine.

For Smith, a self-described "tomboy" who taught karate and plays goalie on a men's hockey league, portraying the statuesque Velma is a lot like playing the softer side of herself.

"She is like the epitome of a strong but sexual female," said Smith, 33. "I don't allow myself to be a female as often as I could. This is forcing me to be female. She's very sassy, very, very
strong and I like that."

A Traverse City native, Smith studied voice at Interlochen Arts Academy and the University of Michigan before striking out for New York in 1994 in hopes of working in action and Disney films. Instead she wound up as a stand-in, stunt and body double for leading film and TV stars like Julia Roberts and Sandra Bullock. Her credits also include "All My Children," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "TheSopranos," for which she ran lines with James Gandolfini. She returned to the area a year ago after losing nearly 50 friends in the Sept. 11 terrorist attackon the World Trade Center and now works as a graphic designer.

While "Chicago" features nearly as many newcomers as veterans, buzz about the show was "huge" even before tickets went on sale, said OTP Executive Director George Beeby. And many are buying tickets for the first time.

"We're going to see a little different audience," Beeby predicted. "We're going to see a little younger crowd, people who maybe have seen the film, bought the CD."

While that's good news for the non-profit theater, it means added pressure for Perez, who is making her mainstage directorial debut with the show although she has assistant-directed seven others.

Chicago runs through Nov. 29 and contains mature themes and adult language. Tickets are $18, or $16 for students and seniors (Thursdays only) and $12 for children (Sundays only).At this point, most shows are sold out or nearly sold out. Best availablity is for Sundays Nov. 16 and 23,
and for closing weekend, Nov. 28 and 29.

Call 947-2443 for more information.

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