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Tony-winning 'Chicago' comes to Popejoy
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Broadway’s longest-running musical revival, “Chicago,” opens at Popejoy on Thursday, Nov. 13.
“You can tell that this is a legendary show from the second it starts,” Claire Marshall, who plays Velma Kelly, said.
Kelly, a nightclub performer in Chicago during the Roaring ’20s, is accused of murdering her husband and his lover.
“She’s this vaudevillian star who’s used to being on top, and you watch her, throughout the show, getting the rug pulled out from beneath her a few times,” Marshall said. “You see how she combats that and comes back with a better plan — a different plan every time — to get out of jail, and also to regain her fame.”
Written in 1975 by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, with music by John Kander, “Chicago” satirizes the phenomenon of the celebrity criminal. A 2002 film adaptation achieved both critical and commercial success, winning six Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
There are significant differences between the film and stage versions, however, and Marshall advises those who have only seen the film to come to the musical with an open mind.
“It’s very different,” she said. “Compared to the movie, the musical is a lot more — I hesitate to say ‘stripped down,’ because visually, we have Tony-winning lighting and sets — but it’s a very cabaret-like, vaudevillian setup. You get actors looking right at you, inviting you into the show. You get a lot of announcing of the next numbers, which in musicals doesn’t often happen, but it’s the perfect way to present this story — the razzle-dazzle of it all — and just showing you the beauty of what’s happening onstage but pulling the wool over your eyes and not showing you the chaos and the devious nature of what’s happening underneath all of that.”
In the film version, the characters’ acts of deception are fleshed out in added scenes, while in the stage production, these narrative details are expressed mostly through song and dance numbers.
“Every character in the show, essentially, is manipulating the media,” Marshall said. “They’re fully just lying to get whatever they want. And they’re doing it in a very showy way, which is what makes it work for them.
“And that’s what makes the audience so captivated — the sparkly razzle-dazzle — and the music, of course, is part of that,” Marshall continued. “The band is onstage with us the whole time. They’re onstage more than me, ultimately. And this iconic music — this beautiful big band sound for some of these songs — is just so captivating.”
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Marshall, who danced as a child before learning singing and acting, has appeared previously in many dance-heavy musicals, including “A Chorus Line” and “Anything Goes.”
“I’m especially lucky with this role,” she said. “There’s not a lot of leading ladies who get to dance, as well.”
Her favorite song to perform in “Chicago” is “Hot Honey Rag,” because it shows off her dancing skills.
“It’s mainly dancing, and I just love dancing,” she said.
Velma Kelly has been portrayed by many well-known actresses over the years, from Chita Rivera to Bebe Neuwirth to Catherine Zeta-Jones.
“It’s wild, because it’s one of these roles that so many iconic women have done,” Marshall said. “But it’s also been done so much, that I actually feel like a little pressure has been taken off — or that’s what I’m telling myself, at least — because I’ve seen it done so many different ways.”
To prepare for the role, Marshall watched many of those iconic performances and identified two main approaches.
“You can really lean into the comedy, the twinkle in her eye and the ‘yuk yuk’ of it all. Or you can play the yuk, period: the sarcasm and the dryness, almost bitterness,” Marshall said. “I tend to lean into the dry humor and the sarcasm … But also, of course, I think she’s hilarious.”
Marshall also found subtle ways to make the role her own.
“There’s a scene where Mama (Morton) is telling me that my tour has been canceled and no one likes me anymore, basically,” Marshall said. “After her line, I just gave her this look, (meaning) no one is saying that, and you’re just lying. And (director David Hyslop) was like, oh, normally she’s just angry.”
He had never seen an actor interpret the scene in that way before.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I’m so honored — I found something!’” Marshall said.
“Chicago,” with its cabaret-style presentation, encourages audience interaction, and Marshall hopes people will arrive ready to have fun.
“I hope everyone knows that they can cheer, they can clap, they can laugh,” she said. “We love an audience that responds to us.”
