All That Jazz: the final performances have been announced for CHICAGO in Canberra
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It would be a crime to miss it!
“The sharpest, slickest show on the block” is coming to Canberra – and pre-sales for the final performance have started.
Blockbuster musical CHICAGO will open at the Canberra Theatre Centre in September this year, the first time a professional production of this Broadway favourite has played in Canberra.
And you better get ready, because pre-sales for the final performances have begun, with general public tickets on sale from Friday 21 June.
The longest-running show currently playing on Broadway, this scorching hot masterpiece includes a dazzling score that includes All That Jazz, Cell Block Tango and Razzle Dazzle. Created by the musical theatre talents of John Kander, Fred Ebb and legendary choreographer Bob Fosse, it’s no wonder CHICAGO has been honoured with six Tony Awards®, two Olivier Awards, and a Grammy®.
“I’m thrilled to add Canberra to the national tour of our new production of CHICAGO,” said producer John Frost.
“CHICAGO has everything that people love about a Broadway musical – a story of fame, fortune and all that jazz, one show-stopping number after another and the most amazing dancing you’ve ever seen.”
Set amidst the decadence of the 1920s, CHICAGO is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago’s slickest criminal lawyer Billy Flynn to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today’s tabloids.
CHICAGO, which is based on the 1926 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, has a legendary book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1996 Broadway revival of CHICAGO is choreographed by Tony Award winner Ann Reinking in the style of Bob Fosse and is directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie. CHICAGO features set design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by William Ivey Long, lighting design by Tony Award winner Ken Billington and sound design by Scott Lehrer.
A stellar cast has been assembled for CHICAGO. One of Australian theatre’s greatest leading men, Anthony Warlow (The Phantom of the Opera), has stepped into the shoes of the cunning and charismatic lawyer Billy Flynn. Returning to the stage to play the powerful and glamorous Velma Kelly is one of Australia’s favourite actors, Zoë Ventoura (Packed to the Rafters). Joining her as the irreverent and determined Roxie Hart is in-demand musical theatre star Lucy Maunder (Mary Poppins). As Roxie’s gullible and hapless husband, Amos, is much-loved comedy icon and character actor Peter Rowsthorn. Following her star turn as Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray, Asabi Goodman plays the tough and sassy prison warden Matron ‘Mama’ Morton.
S.Valeri features as the soft-hearted crime reporter Mary Sunshine, while the talented group of ensemble and swings include Hayden Baum, Devon Braithwaite, Olivia Carniato, Angelique Cassimatis, Louis Fontaine, Chaska Halliday, Sarah Heath, Matthew Jenson, Ethan Jones, Savannah Lind, Kristina McNamara, Tom New, Nathan Pinnell, Rania Potaka-Osborne and Romina Villafranca.
Murder, greed, corruption, exploitation, adultery, treachery… and All That Jazz. What else could you want in a musical?
CHICAGO is showing at Canberra Theatre Centre from 7 September. Tickets here.
