Capitol Theatre

From the iconic initial beats of “Pop, Six, Squish…” to the flash and flummox of lines like “Give 'em the old razzle dazzle” – the sassy, sleazy charm of Chicago is undeniable. Kander and Ebb’s 1975 mega-hit is one of those shows that has become part of the fabric of our collective culture, a timeless call-back for anyone who has ever struck a pose on a rickety chair while wearing an imaginary bowler hat, or day-dreamed a (strictly imaginary) bloody revenge fantasy, and all that jazz.  Australia’s latest tour of this jazz-era spectacle of seductive murderesses, greed, corruption and the fickle nature of tabloid infamy struts into Sydney’s lush Capitol Theatre after doing time in Perth and Melbourne. Under the direction of Karen Johnson Mortimer, this staging of Walter Bobbie’s six-time Tony-Award-winning, stripped-back 1996 Broadway revival (the second-longest running show on Broadway) comes a mere six years after it toured Down Under in 2019. Producers Crossroads Live presumably made a safe bet that this show is a surefire seat-filler (and they’d be right). Or, as one pinstripe-wearing Billy Flynn might say: “Give ‘em an act with lots of flash in it, and the reaction will be passionate…” But with the memory of Casey Donovan’s brilliant performance as Matron Mama Morton and Natalie Bassingthwaighte’s delightfully deranged Roxie Hart being so fresh for Aussie theatregoers, many die-hard musical theatre fans are understandably hesitant to splash out on a ticket this time around