Get ready for a ‘Chicago’-style Christmas

Hard to believe the Halloween décor has already been stashed away, making way for the Christmas ornaments and wooden belens in local malls, but December is fast approaching. And so is Chicago, the Broadway hit that — as of Nov. 23 — will outpace Cats, becoming the longest-running musical ever. This Dec. 3 is when Chicago’s US production hits Solaire’s Lyric Theatre for a three-week run, and last time out, we met up with the leads playing Velma and Roxie — Terra MacLeod and Bianca Marroquin. This time, we talk with Roz Ryan and Jacob Keith Watson — Mama Morton and Andy, respectively — to get the lowdown on the supporting players who make Chicago come alive.

Who would have thought Bob Fosse’s musical adaptation of a 1927 play by a court reporter would continue to be so timely well into the 21st century? Nowadays, we can’t escape celebrity trials, let alone celebrities. In Fosse’s world, the stage is turned into both a jail cellblock and a cabaret world of comedy, song, and constant movement. As we learn from choreographer David Bushman: “With Fosse, there’s at least three things going on at once at all times.” The trick is to keep the audience looking at the right things at the right moment, and this cast of Chicago has definitely got it going on. Expect to be razzle-dazzled.

Lunchbox Theatrical Production’s producer and chief executive James Cundall says “Chicago ranks with Les Miserables as my favorite musical ever,” and “I’m both excited and delighted to bring the very first musical to the brand new Lyric Theatre at Solaire,” a world-class, 1,760-seat venue built especially to accommodate Broadway and West End productions.

In New Orleans, we saw TV’s John O’Hurley (instantly recognizable as J Peterman from Seinfeld) take on the Billy Flynn role, tapping and singing his way out of every sticky situation; in Manila, it will be a different Billy, but the jazz orchestra will consist of mostly Filipino musicians (three woodwinds, two trumpets, two trombones, tuba, bass, violin and banjo/ukulele). It will be interesting to hear their take on Dixieland jazz.

Other standouts in this cast are Ryan, a seasoned Chicago vet (from Detroit) who made her name in gospel shows, including the TV sitcom Amen, as well as Disney’s Hercules (playing a goddess, naturally); and Watson, who literally went from being Mr. Cellophane — straight out of Arkansas, a newbie to Broadway — to earning praise for his sympathetic Andy, the cuckolded husband of ambitious celeb/killer Roxie Hart.

Give it up for Mama.

Roz Ryan has been playing the character of tough-yet-nurturing cellblock hustler Mama Morton for over a decade, and that makes her kind of a “lifer.” When she comes onto the Chicago stage, there’s no mild pitter-patter of applause; Mama demands more: she looks out over the crowd and summons it forth.

“I’m a nightclub singer in Detroit, so breaking that fourth wall is right up my alley,” says Ryan, before going into a mock self-appraising preen: “‘What? All this out here, and you ain’t clapping?’ It’s her power. When Mama comes into a room, just stop what you’re doing. ‘Cause you know you want something; and I got it.”

It wasn’t exactly written that way. Chicago has a bit of Brechtian distance to it, rarely addressing the audience directly. Ryan’s Mama Morton wouldn’t have it. “One night, I leaned over and said to someone in the audience, ‘You like that, don’t you, baby?’ It just brings the audience inside.”

I ask where her power as a performer comes from.

“From all the women that raised me — my mother, my aunt, very powerful, strong-willed women. The hustler thing. I’m from Detroit. I was raised up in nightclubs with pimps and hookers. I wasn’t one, but when I came up for this role, I remembered, oh yeah, that’s how people used to do that, the slickness, and how to get people to love you and do things for you at the same time.”

Being a lifer, Ryan’s seen Chicago productions come and go. “This new cast is fresh, energetic, positive, wonderful, hungry. They have something I haven’t experienced since touring in 2009. When I walked in the rehearsal room and saw these kids, it was brand new. That’s what you look for.”

Like the other performers, Ryan is keyed up to take on the Philippines. She doesn’t quite know what to expect, but she has her own special passport when it comes to opening doors: “I can get anything in the world I want with this.” And she smiles.

See? Mama gets what she wants.

Going from high school football to a Broadway hit is not exactly the usual route — it’s more like a dream come true, and Jacob Keith Watson gave himself, literally, one year to make it happen.

“I made my official onstage Broadway debut in Violet, two days before my one-year anniversary in New York City,” he says. “It was one of those crazy goals you don’t tell anybody, because it’s kind of too crazy, and then when it doesn’t happen no one else knows. You just kind of go, ‘Aw, man, it didn’t happen.’”

After that, landing the role of Andy in Chicago was a snap.

I mention that he’s got an unusual burden in the play: being the play’s only good guy. “The point of Andy is to carry the truth from the beginning to the end. He’s the constant, and then around that you see everyone else lying and you figure out what the lies are based on his response. It’s just great writing, he’s a very sympathetic character.”

Is it ever a drag, being so good when everyone else gets to be so bad?

“I have played some bad characters,” he says. “I usually try to find cynicism in the character. I find his truth, which therefore leads to cynicism a lot of times. But Andy is the opposite; he’s the truth, the innocent truth in this show. There’s nothing cynical about him at all.”

Yet Watson gets the most heartfelt response of the show, when he asks for his “exit music,” is met with silence… and just plods sadly off the stage.

In real life, things are way more upbeat than that. Watson literally got married just a few weeks before kicking off his Chicago road tour in New Orleans (his new wife Elizabeth was at the cast party for opening night). She won’t be in Manila for the December run, but he’ll probably save her some lechon.

“I’ve heard amazing things about the food, I’m excited about that,” Watson says. “And I’m excited to share Bob Fosse’s original show with Filipinos.”

Like most up-and-coming actors, Watson has seen overnight success, and how it can all flame out. “It’s true, now more than ever, people are interested in overnight celebrity. TMZ and all these tabloids go nuts for this. I think Roxie’s like the original Kim Kardashian. You know? She wants to be this star but then she gets tossed aside when someone else comes along. Roxie killed a man, and Kim Kardashian… killed American culture.” We all laugh at that, because it’s so true.

In Manila, expect a packed house at Lyric Theatre as this cast makes you forget the movie for awhile and just become riveted by the live spectacle.

Chicago is coming, Philippines. Full of greed, corruption, murder and scandal — “all those things we hold dear.”

And right in time for the holiday season. 

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Chicago, produced in Manila by Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, David Atkins Enterprises and Concertus Manila, is coming to Solaire Resort and Casino new Lyric Theatre from Dec. 3 to 21. Presented by VISA, Smart Infinity and Solaire Resort and Casino. Visit wwwChicagoTheMusical.com for more information. Tickets are on sale through TicketWorld. Call 891-9999 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph.