Drayton Entertainment’s 2015 Season continues as the iconic Broadway sensation Chicago hits the stage at the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse.
A stellar cast and creative team brings this scandalous story to life from June 3 to 27.
Set amidst the scintillating roaring twenties, an era renowned for organized crime, alcohol prohibition and the very best jazz, Chicago weaves a sordid tale of murder and corruption served with plenty of razzle dazzle.
Cook County Jail is home to a bawdy band of murderesses, all of whom have eliminated their adulterous significant others. Chanteuses Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart have both acquired a spot on death row. Velma enlists the help of prison matron Mama Morton and smooth-talking lawyer Billy Flynn to turn her incarceration into a media frenzy. But not to be outdone, Roxie comes up with a foxy plan of her own to steal the limelight.
The two deadly divas vie for the spotlight and the headlines, ultimately joining forces in search of the “American Dream” – fame, fortune, and of course, acquittal.
Waterloo native Jodi McFadden is the scheming Velma Kelly who will do anything to become a star. McFadden’s impressive career includes roles in the Broadway production of Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark, the movie version of Chicago, and numerous shows at the Stratford Festival.
Drayton Entertainment favourite Jayme Armstrong, who is known to audiences for sweeter roles as Ariel in Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Elle in Legally Blonde, is the devious seductress Roxie Hart, who murders her lover and convinces her hapless husband Amos (Geoffrey Whynot) to take the blame.
Dean Hollin is the suave and salacious lawyer Billy Flynn, with Valerie Boyle as the manipulative Mama Morton and R. Markus as the illusory talk show hostess and high powered gossip columnist Mary Sunshine.
The cast also includes Christy Adamson, Caitlin Goguen, Bethany Kovarik, Sarah Matton and Jennifer Mote as the merry murderesses of Cook County Jail in the infamous number Cell Block Tango along with Judy Kovacs, David Light, Jacques Monfiston, Nicholas Nesbitt, Stephen Roberts, Matthew Rossoff and Joel Taylor in various roles.
These 18 performers are led by director and choreographer Mike Jackson, who appeared in Chicago on Broadway and recently entertained as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz at the Dunfield Theatre Cambridge. He is joined by music director Jeannie Wyse who leads an eight-piece band on stage. The creative team also includes set designer Allan Wilbee, costume designer Ivan Brozic, and lighting designer Jason Hand.
“Chicago is one of the landmark musicals in theatre history,” says Alex Mustakas, artistic director of Drayton Entertainment. “With its signature style of vaudevillian choreography, sensational score and a truly spectacular cast and creative team, Chicago is sure to be the hottest ticket in town this summer.”
Billed as a “musical vaudeville,” Chicago is based on a play by the same name written in 1926 by Maurine Dallas Watkins. Chicago was a modest hit when it opened on Broadway in 1975, in a slinky production directed by renowned choreographer Bob Fosse with his signature fractured-burlesque style. But it was not until the 1997 revival that the musical would become a sensation on the Great White Way, where it continues to play as one of the longest running shows in Broadway history second only to The Phantom of the Opera.
Chicago was adapted as an Academy Award-winning film in 2002 starring Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, and Queen Latifah.
The powerhouse score by John Kander and Fred Ebb features the hit songs All That Jazz, Cell Block Tango, Funny Honey, Razzle Dazzle, Mister Cellophane, and more.
Ticket Information
Regular performance tickets are $42 for adults and $25 for youth under 20 years of age. Tickets for preview performances scheduled before the official opening and groups of 20 or more are $34. HST is applicable to all ticket prices.
Chicago runs from June 3 to 27. Tickets can be purchased at the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse, online at www.stjacobscountryplayhouse.com or by calling the Box Officeat (519) 747-7788 or toll free at 1-855-drayton (372-9866).
