Monday, April 26, 2010

Chicago Razzle-Dazzles in L.A.

My Thursday night was spent in Hollywood - Red Line from Downtown to Hollywood/Vine and a quick walk across the street to the crowd gathered in front of the Pantages Theatre for Chicago.  Amid the theatre's beautiful architecture, Chicago unfolded with enjoyable - and at many times amazing - scenes seamlessly melting from one into the other.

While the show was all together wonderful, kudos must be given to the performances by Terra C MacLeod as Velma Kelly, Brent Barrett as Billy Flynn, and Tom Riis Farrell as Amos Hart.  MacLeod's spectacular song-and-dance numbers as well as Barrett's portrayal of monetizing lawyer Billy Flynn really stole the show.  Farrell's portrayal as Amos Hart pulled at the audience "hart" strings, particularly in his rendition of Mr. Cellophane.  Michelle T. Williams' portrayal of Roxie Hart played to the character's comedic elements of the faux hapless "victim of poor circumstances".  Williams' portrayal was best showcased in her scenes with Barrett and MacLeod, particularly in We Both Reached for the Gun

Prior to the show I had only seen the film-version of Chicago.  I highly recommend this show to everyone, but particularly to those who enjoyed the film and haven't seen the stage production.  It was great to see the basis of the movie and to reorganize my viewpoints by seeing the story (especially the song-and-dance numbers) play out on stage.

Chicago runs until May 9th 2010 at the Pantages Theatre.


-Charity Tran

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