Theater review: Chicago

by Laurie Lynn Lindemeier of John Garcia's The Column

DENTON — Let's just start this out the way this show did -- with a big sultry "wa-wa" from the trumpet player, Miles Johnson. Although the sound was produced by the skillful use of a jazz mute, there was nothing mute about Mr. Johnson's playing.

So often in musicals and opera the audience sees, listens to, and appreciates what's right before them -- the singers -- and takes the musical backbone of the orchestra for granted.

The rocking way the Music Theatre of Denton's troupe sang and danced in their current production of CHICAGO could allow this to happen by such mesmerizing tactics -- we could presume the orchestra was good and forget about them, off to the side, musing away. Let's not do that!  This is no rinky dinky job done by this band, but instead out poured jazzy, hip swaying, finger snapping tunes from this skilled group of instrumentalists, enthusiastically directed by Dr. John Norine. This critic's ears thank you!

Roll this in with the festive, sexy, hip rolling, and grinding coached by choreographer, Anne Black-Scalf, and slip-sliding movements made possible by the sparkly but danceable costumes, and you have a delightful evening of entertainment from the windy city, Chicago.

My favorite musical number of the evening was the duet "Both Reached for the Gun," provided by Joanna Cawthon and Michael Rausch. Cawthon portrays the naughty new murderess at the Cook County jail "Roxie Hart," and Rausch is the slick lawyer "Billy Flynn." This is the number in which Roxie becomes just a puppet for Flynn's oily lawyer tactics. Cawthon flopped around with gawky facial expressions that had me giggling constantly.

Throughout the show Ms. Cawthon's cheeky facial expressions continued to charm. Another example was her solo, "Me and My Baby." Here the murderess was surrounded by hulky male ensemble members donning lacy baby bonnets and pacifiers. This actually showed the softer side of the big boys in the male chorus. Perhaps all men would benefit by embracing their inner baby boy.

As Roxie's side kick/partner, "Velma," Jennifer Ehrhart kicked up in no small way, with lovely, dazzling foot movements, rotating hips, and a silky voice to match her skimpy, lacey slip.

Billy Flynn delivered his role in a big way. His creation of the cut throat, smooth talking lawyer thoroughly reinforced my opinion of lawyers -- you big snake!

There was a last minute change in the role "Mama Morton." With only a couple of days notice, Mandy Rausch had to take over the role. This last minute substitution made me wonder why they would have cast anyone else. Ms. Rausch sang her big solo, "When You're Good to Mama," and her other numbers masterfully. I kept waiting for her to drop a line, what with having to learn the show so quickly, but it just didn't happen.

The dull and supposedly short-on-pizzazz character, "Amos," came through as no kind of boring guy with his big hoo-ha musical number, "Mister Cellophane." With his clear tones, Mr. Tyler Donahue didn't fool anybody a minute. The obviously fine tuned voice and great showmanship had the audience all wrapped up as they applauded enthusiastically after his big number. Yeah, we saw right through you.

We all know that gone are the days when Broadway singers sang with the natural voice and no microphone assistance. However, K. Vivian powerfully sang through with her strong soprano as Mary Sunshine. Although her microphone seemed to be on the blitz, she was the one singer who could most likely be trusted to sing au naturale and still be heard well in the back seat of the theatre.

Certainly I could go on and on, and I have, as there were no weak links in this cast. Don't miss this show!