Chicago The Musical

Welcome. Ladies and Gentlemen, you are about to see a story of murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery, and treachery - all those things we all hold near and dear to our hearts. Thank you.

So begins Chicago The Musical.... and creators John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse never back off from their bold and sinister promise. The kiss-and-tell tale of Roxie Hart, a nightclub dancer who kills her lover; Velma Kelly the glamourous double-murderess vying to keep her press supremacy; and Billy Flynn, the slick lawyer who has the power to keep them from death row and make them in to stars.

Come on, Babe. Why don't we paint the town? And All That Jazz.
I'm gonna rouge my knees. And roll my stockings down. And All That Jazz.
Start the car. I know a whoopee spot. Where the gin is cold. But the piano's hot
It's just a noisy hall. Where there's a nightly brawl. And All That Jazz!
(All That Jazz from Chicago The Musical, lyrics by Fred Ebb)

Following a sensational 8½ year run at The Adelphi Theatre, Chicago the Musical transferred to The Cambridge Theatre from 28 April 2006.

"The story of Velma and Roxie is a peg, in Walter Bobbie's dazzingly coherent production, for a series of vaudeville routines - songs, dances and wisecracks - presented in front of an on-stage band. It's a smart retort to the blockbuster musical. Sometimes the songs are as sparely focused as a concert performance. Sometimes the dance numbers are as raunchy as a floorshow. Either way, what Chicago describes is not a world but a process. And it does it in the language of cabaret - which brings on all those s-words: sassy, sexy, seductive, sensual, sinuous, sleazy, slinky, sophisticated and sultry... Chicago The Musical is an excellent night out." The Independent on Sunday

"As close to musical theatre heaven as you are likely to get" The News of The World

"Chicago The Musical, a show about the corrupting power of publicity, has lived up to its own. This much-trumpeted and trumpeting show at the Adelphi is an almost seamless chain of brassy high spots... The first good decision of the director Waiter Bobble is to dispense with any attempt at naturalism. This is a song-and-dance show, not a musical play. The band is on stage, framed in a tilting golden rectangle" The Observer

"This great production of a magnificent show brings the old razzle-dazzle back to the West End with a vengeance" The Daily Telegraph

"The story is straightforward, improbable but acidly credible... Of course, Chicago is not a realistic musical in the sense that Oklahoma!, say, or Company are realistic musicals. No, this is a piece of hugely enjoyable fantasy send-up... Kander and Ebb show, and they play on, a disillusioned awareness of sleaze and dirty dealings in both high places arid low... You might begin to think that Kander and Ebb have simply loaded their work with 'Significance'. In actual fact, Chicago can make you think, and bitterly, but it is also hugely enjoyable: a showstopping show, a gaudy, glorious, glittering hit. One of the best things in it is Ann Reinking's superbly imaginative choreography." The Sunday Times

"Chicago The Musical tells the story of Roxie Hart, who shoots her lover when he ditches her. It should have been curtains for Roxie, but she finds a shameless, flashy lawyer in the business of defending the indefensible or anything else - for a fat fee... The verdict on this show will, I suspect, he unanimous. Kill for a ticket. (There's bound to be a lawyer out there who'll get you off.)" The Mail on Sunday