I tend to only make posts about things that I think are good - time is precious so there is no use wasting it talking about the mediocre. On occasion I will mention something that falls nothing short of brilliant - and this is one of those occasions.
Last night I attended the opening night of the hit Broadway musical CHICAGO at the Artscape Opera House. I had seen the show when it was first staged a couple of years ago, and while at that time I did manage to have fun and enjoy it - it didn't even begin to resonate with me like last night's performance did. The energy was just totally different.
I engaged with the show so much, it was almost as though I had never seen it before. The great thing about theatre and musicals is that they have the ability to take you to greater places, for the couple of hours you spend in your seat you develop greater dreams for yourself.
Amra-Faye Wright who recently returned to South Africa after playing the role of Velma Kelly on the Westend and Broadway, reprised her role and was absolutely amazing. Samantha Peo as Roxie, Ilse Klink as Mama and Craig Urbani as Billy Flynn were fantastic leads. They brought so much life to the story. Duane Alexander, who I interviewed last year for his lead role in RENT, was also great - delivering another brilliant performance. The show was well attended, with a variety of media personalities who I really respect and admire present.
The highlight however, was heading to De Waterkant's Cafe Manhattan for a drink [the food is always great], with my friend Tatum - after the shows after party. To our surprise we ended up bumping into the entire cast there. They really seem tight and it definitely translated onto the stage. It was great to chat to a couple of them and provided a full-circle Chicago experience.
I am writing a couple of articles on the show, so I won't go into any further detail, but if you are in Cape Town you have to see this show. Tickets are available from Computicket and the show runs until the middle of April.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Chicago, and All That Jazz
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2 comments:
I saw Amra-Faye in the original run at the Civic some years ago - she completely blew me away! Sam Peo was terrific. And Craig Urbani is bound to be excellent as always. Chicago is a fantastic piece of musical theatre and one of my favourites.
I love the name 'De Waterkant'. So descriptive and cosmopolitan, don't you think? A great place to have bumped into the cast. You lucky bitch.
We need to plan to meet up in NYC. It's kind of half way... I mean, if you consider 5 hours for me and 15 hours for you half way.
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