'Chicago' returns to scandalize Des Moines
Get ready to paint the town.
The “merry murderesses” of "Chicago: The Musical" are back on stage to flimflam judges, jurors and members of the press and seductively beguile the audience at the Des Moines Civic Center.
The latest national touring production includes long-term veterans of previous Broadway and international troupes, and choreographer David Bushman is confident that even theatergoers familiar with the show, or the 2002 film adaptation, should return for another look.
With a suave assurance worthy of a femme fatale's big shot lawyer, Bushman predicts, "you will not be disappointed."
Set in Prohibition-era Chicago, where the illicit "gin is cold, but the piano's hot," gangsters, violence and exploitation dominate newspaper headlines. The more outlandish the tale, the bigger the fame. Roxie Hart tumbles into this world when she kills her lover and is sent to the Cook County Jail, where all of the women are innocent of murder, but all of the victims had it coming.
Jail cell life is watched over by tough Matron "Mama" Morton, the inmates' lifeline to Billy Flynn, a ruthless, debonair defense attorney. Both can lead the accused to freedom and future celebrity status, but only in return for a hefty price. It's a bawdy, darkly satirical romp, which also manages to be very funny and is stacked with blockbuster songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb.
First staged in 1975, then revived on Broadway in 1996, where it still packs an audience as the longest running American-made musical in history, the unique, original direction and choreography of Bob Fosse casts a long shadow.
Performing in Des Moines will be Terra C. MacLeod as Velma Kelly, the arch-rival to Dylis Croman's role as Roxie. Both initially inhabited their "Chicago" stage personas over a decade ago, mentored by first generation Fosse protégés. As the larger-than-life attorney Billy Flynn, Brent Barrett is well-remembered as an original tenor behind the mask in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera.” Fosse considered the ensemble the sixth principal in the cast.
Bushman hails Jennifer Fouché, the most recent addition to the cast, as a "new find, who is owning the role" of Mama. With a long resume of recording credits and acting work, including a recurring role on the Netflix TV series Jessica Jones, Fouché has proven her realization: "All my life I had been an actor who could sing."
Reveling in a character who unapologetically tells everyone who she is, Fouché faces a daunting task each night, stepping out on stage and immediately having to deliver a knockout performance, with the showstopping, "When You're Good to Mama."
Fouché had been singing the song for years for her own enjoyment, while friends and colleagues told her she was destined to one day land the part of Mama. Fate, good timing and armed with the vital personality needed to carry the role, she has finally become the "keeper of the keys, the countess of the clink, the mistress of murderers’ row."
No stranger to central Iowa, the "Chicago" touring company first played this same venue back in 1999, Bushman marvels how the performances "keep getting better and better." A mischievous satire that will "kick your shins and give you sass," be prepared for even the most corrupt, greedy and treacherous characters to win you over with a sensuous wink.
Chicago: The Musical
When: March 9 at 7:30 p.m.; March 10 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; March 11 at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Where: Des Moines Civic Center, 221 Walnut St.
Tickets: $35 to $135.
More information: 515-246-2300, www.desmoinesperformingarts.org