Chicago — one of the longest-running Broadway shows ever — is on stage in Chilliwack.
Performers in the G.W. Graham Musical Theatre Program are presenting Chicago in the G.W. Graham Theatre until April 28.
With a strong 22-member cast and a jazzy 13-piece orchestra, this burlesque send-up of a sensationalist media and corrupt justice system is ready to entertain.
It’s got a soundtrack full of great songs like All That Jazz, The Cell Block Tango, and Razzle Dazzle.
“This show will have you humming and toe-tapping long after the final curtain,” says director Janine Webster.
“We hope to see you in our beautiful G.W. Graham Theatre to enjoy the mesmerizing romp that is Chicago,” she said.
The original Broadway production of Chicago opened June 3, 1975, at the 46th Street Theatre and ran for 936 performances.
Bob Fosse choreographed the original production, and his style is strongly identified with the show. Chicago’s 1996 Broadway revival holds the record for the longest-running musical revival on Broadway and is its fourth longest-running show.
The Academy Award-winning film version (2002) of the musical was directed by Rob Marshall and starred Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, and Queen Latifah.
The Graham Musical Theatre program kicked off in 2008, developed by Janine and Matthew Webster, and runs outside the regular school hours.
It’s a performance-based course in which students work collaboratively toward the staging of a professional-level musical theatre production, thereby experiencing the value of interdependent, cooperative activity, and the responsibility that it entails.
“It’s primarily to encourage a lifelong appreciation for the performing arts through the medium of musical theatre performance,” said Webster.
Chicago, April 22-28, G.W. Graham, matinee tickets are $10, and five evening performances from Tuesday to Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at $15.
Tickets at London Drugs, Save-On Foods (Vedder), and at G.W. Graham Secondary School 45955 Thomas Road.
