Chicago Review

Bristol Hippodrome – until 30th April 2022

Reviewed by Lucy Hitchcock

5*****

The ever loved Chicago hits Bristol this week, and it does not disappoint!!

In the heart of the roaring 1920’s, we follow Roxie Hart (Faye Brookes) as she navigates through the county jail, conning the public and the media into believing she is an innocent and repentant woman. Hiring Billy Flynn (Liam Marcellino) she copies Velma Kelly’s (Djalenga Scott) pleas and eventually ends with the most Unlikely friendship between them.

This is a stand out show, with sultry costumes, dazzling choreography and breathtaking vocals. Faye Brookes astounds as she easily takes on the role of Roxie, giving the performance of a lifetime. Mama Morton (Sheila Ferguson) is an incredible star, with the perfect mixture of sass and love, she truly excels. During ‘When you’re good to Mama’ she commanded the stage and soared through the track with exceptional agility. A rarely seen, but heartwarming performance from Jamie Baughan as Amos Hart was superb. He peppered the show with elements of desperation and true love as he longed for his incarcerated wife Roxie, finally giving us the beauty of ‘Mister Cellophane’. From the audience there was an audible ‘aww’ as he sang through his trials of being unheard-it was a heart wrenching performance. Djalenga Scott as Velma Kelly was also spectacular, giving us perfect story telling from the opening ‘All That Jazz’. A perfect cast and performances from all involved-the dancing was stellar and this is a show to treasure. The music from John Kander was cleverly directed by Andrew Hilton and his exceptional orchestra who are ever present on the stage. The music makes this show a phenomenon and it was beautiful to hear the trumpets blast and the piano played without hesitation.

This is a truly wonderful show, with greed, murder and the old razzle dazzle-you would have to be criminal to miss this!!