CHICAGO recently???

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 2:09am

Has anyone seen Chicago recently?
I've never seen it and I have been waiting for an All Broadway Cast,
and I guess now is my chance.
Has anyone seen the current cast?

thanks...

[cello_dude]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 2:10am

What is an all broadway cast? no stuntcasting?

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 6:17am

I saw it Sunday night for one reason: Kecia Lewis-Evans as Matron 'Mama" Morton. She was fantastic. Jeff McCarthy was very good. The girl playing Roxie is from Mexico; she's played her there a lot and was alright. I did not see what the big deal is about Brenda. She was pitchy more times than not. The company was alright. Overall I wasn't impressed with the show. It had never been on my short list of shows to see, but some friends and I wanted to support Kecia since we knew her from Drowsy. Having seen it now, I'm honestly at a loss to see the appeal of the show. I guess it's the title recognition factor?

[Smaxie]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 8:03am

Well, at this point in the run, it must be title recognition and the stunt casting that is keeping it going. But the original cast of the revival was pretty sharp and the show's cynicism felt right for the times, especially following the media circus of the O.J. Simpson trial, wherein murder became a form of television entertainment.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 8:42am

Just saw the TV spot twice in an hour time span this morning. The one with Bebe and Annie. It was like a blast from the past...haven't seen it in, oh, probably 5 years.

It's one of the few TV spots that stand out...the other one I vividly remember was Man of La Mancha: "And I bought the mug!"

[winston89]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 8:52am

I do agree that it was with what was going on at the times when it first opened. Now, it looks like it needs to close.

[movies35]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 8:52am

I saw the tour back in January and thought it was pretty good. Nothing great, but it was entertaining. Much better than the movie in any case, which I was never a fan of.

[That Groovy Guy]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 9:07am

I saw it over the weekend. It was...ok. I was a little disappointed. Surprisingly, the opening number seemed very lifeless and much of the show seemed to be just going-through-the-motions to me. Not sharp at all. I often had a hard time hearing Brenda Braxton and I was in the fourth row. Although she has a nice voice, didn't seem to want to use it. I really liked Bianca Marroquin as Roxie. She was very charming. Ron Orbach was Amos Hart and was excellent as well.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 9:32am

I saw it back in January and absolutely loved it. Actually, I think the cast changed since I saw it, so I'm probably no help.

[shh282]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 9:42am

I saw it like, last week, or the week before.

I was completely astonished, it was FANTASTIC.

Velma and Roxie are a complete dynamic duo. definitely plan on seeing it before they go

[atlsuperstar]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 9:56am

Does anyone know Kecia Lewis story?..why did she leave Once On This Island so fast! Lillias White even performed on the Tony's! Not to mention she has been gone for a minute! Just wondering!

[george95]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 10:14am

I saw CHICAGO on tour about 10 years ago and didn't like it. I saw it on Broadway in December 2007 for the first time, and I've seen it 4 times since then. I think the show is in fantastic shape. The choreography is still sharp, precise, sexy, and fluid. The actors have a great time with the show--you can tell how much the enjoy doing it. I'm wondering why it took me so long to give this show a chance. I just took 8 of my sophomores to see it 2 weeks ago on March 19th and they all sat up and watched the whole thing with interest--which is a big deal for them.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 10:15am

How long is Jeff McCarthy going to be in? I thought he had already left a few weeks ago.

[MCfan2]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 10:43am

He just started a couple of weeks ago.

Having seen it in February, I liked both Bianca and Brenda quite a lot. That Groovy Guy, it's funny you should say that about Brenda being inaudible, because when I saw it she was one of the few who could consistently make herself heard over a sometimes too-loud orchestra. (Maybe she wore her voice out doing it!) Bianca couldn't always, but she did have a good voice and was indeed very charming.

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 11:00am

Weird. Was he in the cast and then left for a while, and then came back? I thought his stint was back in Dec/Jan according to this article.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/113351.html

Great to hear he's still there! I thought I had missed him.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 11:11am

Of the current Broadway cast:

Brenda Braxton & Bianca Marroquin as Velma and Roxie:


Bianca Marroquin as Roxie Hart:


Brenda Braxton as Velma Kelly in the "All That Jazz" number:





Updated On: 4/2/08 at 11:11 AM

[MCfan2]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 11:24am

Cape Twirl -- yes, it was McCarthy Dec.-Jan., John Schneider Jan.-March, and now McCarthy again.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 3:29pm

I saw it over the weekend. It was...ok. I was a little disappointed. Surprisingly, the opening number seemed very lifeless and much of the show seemed to be just going-through-the-motions to me. Not sharp at all. I often had a hard time hearing Brenda Braxton and I was in the fourth row. Although she has a nice voice, didn't seem to want to use it.

I completely forgot about hardly being able to hear Brenda. Did you see it Sunday? Because Sunday night she was virtually inaudible, even when she was on the side of the stage where I was reom rush tickets (D-19). And I agree, it seemed like there was a good bit of sleep-walking going on.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 3:38pm

Interesting what you have to say about Brenda Braxton. She was in it in January, and I thought she was really really good. Maybe she was sick recently or there was something wrong with her microphone? I know from experience that those things are the biggest pain in the ass to work with, and it can be aweful during live performances. I was working on a live auction once at school that was being televised regionally, and at one point, one of the microphones went out and started buzzing, so we had to turn it off and rely on the others microphones to pick up the person's voice until commercial break.

Anyway, in my performance, Michelle DeJean was still playing Roxie and she was totally amazing.

[jordangirl]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 3:52pm

I'll give her the possibility that she was or had been sick. But I would think on one of the leads they would have fixed a mic problem at the earliest possible convenience rather than let it continue through the entire performance. There was no noticeable volume increase after intermission, so I'd be very surprised if it was a mic issue.

[Kev]

Posted: 4/2/08 at 3:58pm

Brenda ain't giving the performance she used to a couple years back. Currently, it's an underwhelming, often phoned-in, and sloppy performance.

What a breath of fresh air it was to see Terra MacLeod return to the role during Brenda's vacation.