S.F. Opening of CHICAGO, the musical! Very short review!

[Jovie24]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 3:35am

Went and saw CHICAGO tonight in S.F. The show was great, a bit long at times the leads (Velma and Roxie) were amazing and the supporting cast (Amos, Mamma Morton, Mary Sunshine, etc) were also amazing...negative...Huey Lewis...could not sing or act at all..walked his way through this role so much, it was just bad...there times where he could not hit the note so he soft spoke it and at times brought it down and then when he did that it sounded like he was singing country tunes.

I was not the only one...people all around me could not stop laughing or turning their heads and moan...I felt bad...expected him to be good..John O'Hurley is replacing him this Saturday for One-Night-Only...let's make sure it is not his last...

Updated On: 10/26/06 at 03:35 AM

[jimnysf]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 6:01am

I was there, too! I also enjoyed the show a lot. I would have to agree about Huey. He sounded like he was hoarse and he was kind of flat/off key at times but I thought he acted the role pretty well. He's played it before so I will hold out hope that he was having an off-night as far as his singing goes. I've seen two others play Billy Flynn over the years(Billy Zane and Kevin Richardson of "The Backstreet Boys")and they were both excellent. I believe Huey Lewis is heading to NY to star in the Broadway version after he finishes the run in SF.

I thought the rest of the cast was fantastic! Michelle DeJean and Terra C. Macleod (Roxy and Velma), Carol Woods ("Mama" Morton), Ron Orbach (Amos), R. Bean (Mary Sunshine) and the "jury", Christophe Caballero, and all of the others. Overall, it was a fun time. Go see it if you are in SF. It's only here for a couple of weeks this time around.

[HumATune]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 10:42am

Saw it Wednesday night.

Okay so this was my first time seeing Chicago. I have seen the movie, but obviously the stage version is very different.

When I got to my seat, my first thought was “where the heck is the orchestra?”. (Silly me.) I was starting to get angry and thought that we were getting some cheap synthesizers or something. Then the curtain rose. “Oh” I thought rather sheepishly.

So I really enjoyed the show. It’s a total fantasy, and I can’t see why people would have an issue with certain types of casting. And those costumes, oh my.

So my personal favorites were Michelle DeJean as Roxie and Ron Orbach as Amos. Michelle was fantastic during her monologue and “Roxie”. She brought the right amount of humor, naiveté, manipulation, flintiness, and contriteness to the character. And Amos, well I feel sorry for the character anyway, but Ron really made the most of his character’s awkwardness and oblivious nature.

I enjoyed the rest of the cast, too, with the exception of Huey. Just no. He couldn’t really sing the part, which I would have overlooked if his acting had been there. But he didn’t really act either. He had no stage presence as Billy, and I never got the impression that Billy was this legendary lawyer. I might have to go see John O’Hurley now.

Speaking of which, what is up with John O’Hurley playing both the shows on October 28th? Huey may be busy, but why not just put the understudies on? Or is this a publicity stunt to sell more seats to suckers like me?

Updated On: 10/26/06 at 10:42 AM

[AugustBurns2]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 1:10pm

HumaTune wrote: Okay so this was my first time seeing Chicago. I have seen the movie, but obviously the stage version is very different.

When I got to my seat, my first thought was “where the heck is the orchestra?”. (Silly me.) I was starting to get angry and thought that we were getting some cheap synthesizers or something. Then the curtain rose. “Oh” I thought rather sheepishly.


-- I thought this was cute!

I've seen the show two or three times (I can't believe I forget!) and saw it on Broadway. I won't be able to see it here in SF again, but it's such a joyous show! Too bad for me!

But hearing about Huey Lewis...I might not be missing much.

Though, I would think that John O'Hurley would be great!

[EugLoven]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 4:02pm

I was also there Wednesday night.
Very, very packed house!
Great performance overall, (esp. leading ladies and male ensemble).
Huey was a mess.
Fortunately, "Chicago" is so popular, they really don't need Lewis to headline to sell tickets. That's just a "bonus."

Full review with photos coming to the SF-BWW.com page soon.

[ElFantasma14]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 4:15pm

Too bad about Lewis. Hopefully he'll get better. He looks like he has the swagger to pull off the big-shot lawyer look, but the singing is always most important.

Does anyone know if the tour is ending once it finishes its last scheduled stop (St. Paul, MN)?

[jimnysf]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 4:34pm

I'm pretty sure that I read it's over in January, 2007. Is that the St Paul stop?

[ElFantasma14]

Posted: 10/26/06 at 4:51pm

Yeah, St. Paul is in January. How long has this been touring anyway?

[HumATune]

Posted: 10/31/06 at 8:49am

So who is the new Roxy? According to her website http://www.michelledejean.com Michelle DeJean left the tour October 29th.

Hmm I couldn't get the code the work the first time.


Updated On: 10/31/06 at 08:49 AM