Tonight's Chicago Performance Rundown

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 6:26pm

Can be found on this guy's blog:

http://www.amny.com/theaterblog

[BNN]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 6:45pm

I really hope some kind soul is ilegally recording this somehow,
not that I support such activites.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 8:15pm

I wish I could go!

[ljay889]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 9:36pm

CHITA DOING ALL THAT JAZZ.

JEALOUSLY RIGHT HERE.

[courtnyj]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 9:50pm

So jealous!

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 10:05pm

Nice review! This kind of bothered me. "Mr. Sullophane"

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 10:05pm

double post
Updated On: 11/14/06 at 10:05 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 10:05pm

Melaine Griffith performing Roxie. Oh God. I hope Gwen looked down and made a light fall on her head. Me and My Baby was too painful to get through on the CD! Roxie, live for this special event?

[JennyC]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 10:48pm

"Melaine Griffith performing Roxie. Oh God. I hope Gwen looked down and made a light fall on her head."

REALLY, REALLY freaky that you posted this, because when Melanie came out on stage, the lights were going CRAZY...they were stuck and were making this HORRIBLE HORRIBLE noise. I was up in the balcony and some guy from the back (booth?) ran over and started pointing at the lights. For a brief moment, I thought they were going to fall. After Melanie got through about two minutes of her scene, they fixed the problem and made her go back and do it again. So Gwen tried, I suppose....

HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT was Chita Rivera coming out and doing the opening number. I've never heard applause quite so thunderous. The woman OWNED that stage. Caught myself grinning like an idiot throughout her whole number. SHE, my friends, is a LEGEND.

Another highlight: Ann Reinking... wow. She's freakin amazing.

Loved seeing Ruthie perform...powerhouse voice. Charlotte was another big hit. Joel Grey was fabulous and got his applause.. Ashlee Simpson was suprisingly pretty good.

Also a treat to see the original ensemble come out in the beginning of act two to dance.

What a night.

[shameless]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 10:56pm

How was Karen Ziemba?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 11:03pm

Chita on that elevator=I wish I lived in NYC

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 11:06pm

Pictures

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 11:14pm

I love you neddy!

[Princeton78]

Posted: 11/14/06 at 11:47pm

Where was Ute? =(

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:42am

Interesting that the biggest Ovation was for Chita who was in the original and NOT this cheap Revival.
I am still P.O.d that the revival was basically a concert and the original was a Real Broadway Musical.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:48am

The one frustration of this truly amazing night (aside from suffering through Melanie's Roxie of course) was the fact that we didn't know who was doing each part. We just had to recognize peopole. Obviously, that's easy with Chita, but there's still quite a few I'm unsure of, and it's making me really frustrated. Really so much so that I don't want to write much at the moment because I'm too embarassed about not knowing someone. So I may do a big write-up after I get that all figured out.

I can at least definitely add that James Naughton sang All I Care About.

There were 2 Roxies and 2 ladders for Funny Honey. A couple of songs were like this, and what happened is one person sang by themselves, then the other did, then they sang together, so it's the same formula for the next few I will mention.

2 Mamas for When You're Good to Mama

3 Mary Sunshines for A Little Bit of Good

I know a few, but...it's too confusing, I don't wanna start saying who was there and who might have been, and...it's all confusing in my mind.

Ann did the Nowadays reprise with Bebe, but Michelle had to take her part on Hot Honey Rag. Disappointing, but understandable I suppose. It was great to see Bebe do that though.

And Chita rising from that elevator...for some reason, I decided it was gonna be Bebe, so it was just...plus as mentioned wearing her original 70s costume. She was carried all over the stage, and took Roxie's first line to impersonate Gwen. It was great. Every little thing was cheered, and a standing o was given at the end of the song. What a trooper. What a moment. It was amazing to see in her show, but to have her come out of the elevator in costume...wow. Just, wow.

Yeah, that's all I'm gonna say for now. Will go into more details when I can put definite names to everyone.

Well, except for the fact that on my way back to my seat after intermission I bumped into John Kander...talk about a uh...momentous moment...

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 12:58am

Sounds like a great night, Does anyone know if Caroline O'Connor was there?

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:00am

Did they give you a playbill?

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:01am

She was.

Here's a list of everyone who performed tonight (including current cast)

Donna Marie Asbury, Obba Badatunde, Brent Barrett, Rob Bartlett, Hinton Battle, Roy Bean, PJ Benjamin, Ray Bokhour, Jim Borstelman, Wayne Brady, Brenda Braxton, Greg Butler, Kevin Carolan, Caitlin Carter, Lynda Carter, Kevin Chamberlin, Chuck Cooper, Mindy Cooper, Charlotte d'Amboise, Paige Davis, Michelle DeJean, Bernard Dotson, Bryn Dowling, Mamie Duncan-Gibbs, Shawn Emamjomeh, Gabriela Garcia, Joel Grey, Melanie Griffith, Gregory Harrison, Marilu Henner, Ruthie Henshall, Denis Jones, David Kent, Mary Ann Lamb, Sharon Lawrence, Huey Lewis, Marcia Lewis Bryan, Jeff Loeffelholz, Ryan Lowe, Melissa Rae Mahon, Bianca Marroquin, Christopher McDonald, Gerry McIntyre, Terra C. Macleod, Sharon Moore, James Naughton, Bebe Neuwirth, Caroline O'Connor, John O'Hurley, Ron Orbach, Destan Owens, Denny Paschall, Ron Raines, Ann Reinking, Kevin Richardson, Matthew Risch, Chita Rivera, Michelle M. Robinson, Roz Ryan, David Sabella, Ernie Sabella, Brooke Shields, Ashlee Simpson, Mark Anthony Taylor, Rocker Versatique, Jennifer West, Rita Wilson, Bruce Winant, Carol Woods, Tom Wopat, Amra-Faye Wright, Eric Jordan Young, Karen Ziemba, Leigh Zimmerman

Updated On: 11/15/06 at 01:01 AM

[Dame Fanadette]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:07am

Any review on Ms. Simpson's little part? Worse than Melanie?

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:09am

Not by a longshot. I really...hate...to...say...she...was...good. Assuming that was actually her singing...

ETA: yes we got a playbill with lots of pictures of all the different cast members in their black-and-white poses, with the chicago logo in red on the side, with the 10 in the middle, and the bottom right corner says 10 razzle-dazzle years. at first, it seems like a normal playbill with the current cast and stuff, but once you get past that, it has this performance stuff--the first page listing all the performers I did. Then the next page is a Chicago timeline, and a Did You Know Chicago page, and a 10th Anniv. special thanks page. Everything else is the normal playbill.

Updated On: 11/15/06 at 01:09 AM

[Dame Fanadette]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:13am

Ha did that hurt to say? I doubt she lipsyncs during the show haha

[LI Larry]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:15am

I liked it. I was there. But I thought Safe horizons did a horrible job of running things. A thousand bucks for a seat in the mezzanine?! Please. then At the party there was a separate VIP room for the celebrities. However most of them came down to the regular room. Just the hollywood ones were up there. But people like Bebe, Gregory harrison, Joel Grey, Marcia Lewis, and most of the bway people came with us. The show itself was great. I wish some of the Billys were allowed to do more. Too late to go into more though. But I also had a hard time recognizing some of the people. Thought Melanie Griffith did a good job when some door opened and the alarm went off. John Kander told her to stop singing until they fixed it. She doesn't have the greatest voice or talent but she's a lot of fun to watch. I loved all the Amoses coming out at the end of Mr. Cellophane. and like it was previously mentioned. Chita was the highlight.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 1:52am

What did Ernie Sabella perform?

[HughE2030]

Posted: 11/15/06 at 2:07am

I have posted a few photos from the Chicago 10th Anniversary Show tonight.

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