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Chicago Brings Brandy Norwood to the Kennedy Center

Jordan Wright
April 9, 2017

First you see it.  The hands.  The jazz hands.  Fingers spread wide and pivoting quickly from left to right.  A bit of moonwalk (a famous Fosse move before Michael Jackson came along) and the swaying of the arms behind the back with fingers again outstretched – another of famed choreographer Bob Fosse’s signature moves.  Bodies slither across the floor.  Face down.  Belly up.  Long before “The Worm” came along.  Gangsters. Conmen. Jailbirds.  It’s Chicago.  It debuted on Broadway in 1975 and has toured the world since then.

Then you hear it.  The sound of the Roaring ‘20’s.   Opening with the number “All That Jazz” and a ton of dancers, the razzamatazz never stops.  Not even in the murder scenes, the women’s prison and the love songs.  It’s just flat out visceral.

In this latest revival of composer and lyricist Kander and Ebb’s smash hit supersonic popstar and Grammy Award-winning singer, Brandy Norwood, stars in the role of Roxie, the cheating wife and boyfriend murderer, and, amazingly, she can dance – right along with all the other seasoned hoofers.  She can sing of course, albeit softer than you’d have expected, putting her own soul music spin on the end of each line.  The audience is digging it.  They’ve come for her and she doesn’t disappoint.

The plot isn’t much to write about in Chicago it’s just the vehicle for the music and dance.  And there’s a ton of dancing by long legged, hard body dancers in sexy, black lingerie.  There’s only one set – the prison (later doubling as a courtroom) where Velma Kelly (I saw it with the terrific Lauren Gemelli who subbed for Terra C. MacLeod, another Broadway company veteran) and Roxie play out their rivalry as two vaudevillian murderesses whose slick-as-a-brick lawyer, the movie star handsome, Billy (Brent Barrett), flimflams the jury with a sob story to spare them the death penalty.  Barrett is terrific in the soft shoe number “Razzle Dazzle”.

With the orchestra on stage throughout, Roz Ryan plays Matron “Mama” Morton with a voice as deep and strong as blues legend Big Mama Thornton’s.  In this jail Mama takes care of her girls and her girls take care of her, handing over cash for prison favors.  In her show-stopping solo “When You’re Good to Mama”, and later in the duet “Class” with Velma, she really shines.

Roxie’s cuckolded spouse, Amos Hart, is played admirably by Paul Vogt, who played the role on Broadway.  His rendition of the iconic tune “Cellophane Man” about a man so ignored he is transparent to everyone, is a classic – and so is the show.

Through April 16th at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St., NW, Washington, DC.  For tickets and information call 202 467-4600 or visit www.Kennedy-Center.org.

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