Brooke Shields in West End CHICAGO- July 25ht, 2005!

Well, when I was in London, I went and saw 2 shows- 1 was STOMP, which I loved even more the second time, and the other one was CHICAGO!!! I had only seen the movie, but had never seen the show before, and was very excited! We had Row S, on the right side, which were pretty good seats (its nifty they let you buy binoculars, though!)
Okay, well I loved the whole show so much!! (my favorite!!!!) First off, I'll start with the actors/actresses:
Brooke Shields- She definitely exceeded my expectations! Before the show, I was like "She'll be horrible! This will be funny seeing her trying to act and sing!" (which was very mean, I feel bad!!!) I loved her! At the beginning during "Funny Honey", she wasnt as strong, but she kept getting bigger, and better as the show progressed. Brooke has unbelievable comdedic timing, though! Especially in "Roxie" ("he made love to me like he was fixing a car, or something! i love ya honey!!!" :)) She definitely brought a "new dimension" to Roxie, a very comdedic sort of take on it! I say "GO SEE BROOKE IN NYC IN CHICAGO STARTING SEPTEMBER 9TH!!! iT WILL BE WELL WORTH IT!!!!!" So overall, I give her an A!
The rest of the people- Charley Izabella King was an absolutely amazing Velma! She was hilarious, and had a great voice! The guy who was Billy Flynn (a black guy, i forgot his name) was also really good too, he held a really long "the" at the end of "we both reached for the gun"...yup! Robert Hands was such a good Amos, too! I wanted to cry sometimes when he was being ignored by Roxie, but it was still funny...especially "Mr. Cellophane"! The rest of the ensemble and cast were great too. (Question: Is Mary Sunshine like a cross dresser or something?)
The show in general:
Well, my favorite songs were defintely the cellblock tango (POP! SIX! sQUISH! AAH AAH! cISARO...LIPSISH!", and we both reached for the gun, and i loved the rest of them too! I liked how its all black costumes, and everything, and the set (which there was like none of) was cool too!
Stage Door:
I met Brooke, and she was defintely the sweetest person I have ever met! She took her time to talk to everyone, and sign whatever they have, and all that stuff! Also, Charley, the black guy, Robert Hands, and everyone else was great too! I love the stage door so much better in London, so much less crowded!

Anyway, this was my favorite show I've seen, sorry for the short, and badly written review (i'll work on it), and thats all for now!

-Me

Is she a really good singer? I'm just curious, 'cause I never knew that about her.

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She can carry a tune, or as Brantley puts it she has a "serviceable alto."

You can listen to clips of her on the WONDERFUL TOWN recording on any site. Her big, critcally acclaimed performance.

www.wonderfultownthemusical.com

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There is a big irony behind Mary Sunshine being played by a man - I guess some people just can't figure it out.


Chicago is an amazing production. It dosen't rely on set, and costumes to make a spectacle. It relies on the talent of every single person on stage to make the show a spectacle, it's really a spectacle of talent.

Chicago on stage is a true work of art, and I can't wait to see Brooke with it.

Sorry to spoil this, but I did not like Brooke's Roxie. Weak singing (sounds like Donna murphy with a VERY hoarse voice!), bad dancing (maybe becuz she's tall, she seems to be walking n not jumping in Me & My Baby!), acting average (her strongest, but I think it's not exaggerated enough)
But I hope she'll improve on Broadway and hope you guys'll love her!

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I can't wait to see Chicago in NYC. My mom and I loved her in Wonderful town, we weren't able to stage door because we had an elderly relative with us so we can't wait to meet her.

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I am very sorry, but I looked at the website and was unable to find any example of Brooke's singing. Could someone provide me a direct link or directions of some sort?

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Mary Sunshine was written to be played by a man. That's why they have the line at the end "some things aren't what they seem" (or something like that) and Mary pulls off her wig. I still don't understand why they cut that part from the movie, but maybe they thought it would be too difficult to successfully pull off the "surprise" on the large screen.

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RUTHIEFAN. You fail to mention you saw her when she first started in the role. And she only had about 7 days of rehearsal. Give her a break.

Oh and there are 3 different choreographed version of ME AND MY BABY. Level 1 - easiest, Level 2 - more difficult, Level 3 - the hardest version - which we have seen done by Charlotte d'Amboise, Ann Reinking and other great dancers who have played the role.

I believe the level 3 is the only one with the leaps. Brooke might be doing the level 2 version.

No. I'm saying she only had 7 days of rehearsal for CHICAGO. Ruthie only saw her in CHICAGO.

^ Some great points.

I do believe she is doing all the original choreo for CHICAGO. But she might be doing level 2 for ME AND MY BABY. The leaps can be quite challenging - which are apart of level 3.

She isn't Melanie Griffith, she dosen't need toned down moves for everyhting number. hehe

Updated On: 7/28/05 at 08:00 PM

ljay, I saw Brooke on her 3rd week. And I wasn't impressed. I know she did the level 1 because I know that Frances Ruffelle did the level 2. But it may be her off night.... I don't want to spoil everyone's hopes. But I had GREAT hopes for her (esp after the rave reviews on Broadway on WT), but FOR ME, she was a disappointment.

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