How is the Current Chicago Cast?
How is the Current Chicago Cast?
#1How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/4/10 at 7:46pmLast time I saw the show I had an absolutely terrible cast, and it completey ruined the show for me. A friend would like to go see the show and I was just wondering if it's worth it?
#2How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/4/10 at 8:13pm
Terri White is a very good Mama.
Ruthie Henshall and Terra MacLeod are like a dreamteam as Roxie and Velma.
Sadly Terra leaves after next week and is replaced by Amra Faye Wright who - while fine - never excited me the couple times i saw her in the role. Terri White leaves after next week as well replaced by Carol Woods, who's been playing the role since 1997.
#2How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/4/10 at 8:32pm
How is Carol?
And go see Terra ASAP. She's brilliant.
As for Ruthie, she's my absolute favorite Roxie. She brings a sort of energy to a stage that can't be described. Seeing her was an experience I'll never forget.
Terri is ok. Her voice was better when she started but now it's diminished a slight bit.
Colman Domingo is very funny as Billy. I thoroughly enjoy him.
Tom Riis Farrell was ok as Amos. Not my favorite but it was nice to see someone else after seeing Raymond Bokhour about 7 times.
The ensemble is electric every night I've gone.
Amra-Faye was the first Velma I saw on Broadway. She was ok. Not the best in my opinion but definitely worth seeing. I hear that she and Ruthie make a very good team.
John O'Hurley is joining the cast on July 20th as Billy and I've heard that he's great so I'm excited for that.
#3How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/4/10 at 10:27pm
When I went for the first time, I had Terra Macloed and Michelle Williams as Velma and Roxie. Both were great, especially Terra, but the show overall seemed kind of tired. To go in knowing that it's been playing for so long, and with that in mind you'll have a good time.
#4How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/5/10 at 12:10amRuthie is absolutely one of the best Roxies for the revival! Go watch her before she leaves mid-July !!!!! And I'm being dead serious! You do not wanna miss her!
All That Jazz
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#5How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/5/10 at 12:14am
Ruthie extended through August 29th. I am going to try to catch her in August. So excited. 
broadwayboy987
Stand-by Joined: 2/15/10
#6How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/5/10 at 1:19amTerra is great, and Carol as Mama was also great:) She has a big voice, and was just perfect when I saw her.
#7How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/5/10 at 9:08pmON a much more superficial note, can you comment on the guys in the chorus?
"The price of love is loss, but still we pay; We love anyway."
#8How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/5/10 at 9:56pmThey do a good job. I mean, it's mostly dancing, and they are all talented. Not much to say.
#9How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/5/10 at 10:21pmRuthie is giving a can't-miss performance. Seriously, see her if you can, regardless of who else is in the cast.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#10How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/5/10 at 10:28pmWhen exactly does Terra leave? Who replaces her? I might have to go tomorrow!
#11How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/5/10 at 10:28pm
Amra-Faye Wright joins July 13 
. She is a huge bore. ugh.
Updated On: 7/5/10 at 10:28 PM
#12How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/6/10 at 1:02amThanks, ljay. I'll definitely catch it tomorrow or Sunday. Any idea which day would be better to rush it?
#13How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/6/10 at 3:41am
I saw Ruthie during the start of this current run (with the always superb Brenda Braxton) and she was divine. Her Roxie has evolved since the OLCR and is quite fascinating to watch. Her star-power and ability to command a stage is undeniable and a joy to watch.
I saw Terri White who, despite some line troubles, was also magnificent.
There's one hunky standout in the current male ensemble but not the hottest I've seen.
EDIT: And I've seen Terra twice (though not with Ruthie) and she was wonderful both times. Her Velma is very demented.
I saw it with the guy from Gossip Girl guy and he was enough eye candy. And he was actually surprising good, too. Probably the most low-key interpretation of Billy Flynn but it worked well.
The show, overall, was in fantastic shape.
"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"
Updated On: 7/6/10 at 03:41 AM
#14How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/6/10 at 3:44amCockeyedOptimist, you should be fine either day. Not many people know about the rush. If you get there when the Box Offic opens, you'll be fine. I got a rush seat on a busy Sunday matinee, front row dead center.
"Broadway...I'll lick you yet!"
AngusN
Broadway Star Joined: 3/23/05
#15How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/6/10 at 7:18amI saw Ruthie and Uta when this production begun life in the West End. Ruthie was fabulous as Roxie. Although I don't like this version of the show, her portrayal of Roxie was electrifying; one that will stay with me for a long time.
#16How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/6/10 at 8:00amThanks, Mildred. I'm excited to see it!
greensgreens
Broadway Star Joined: 10/14/09
#17How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/6/10 at 11:44am
Ruthie was the only good part about this recent cast. She has a certain vibrancy and wide-eyed excitement that translates well to the role. She also was the only person who actually looked like she was having a good time up on the stage.
There were one or two standouts in the chorus, but that's it. Terra was absolutely awful... Couldn't sing, couldn't act and her only dance move was raising her right leg (not her left). It was the only time that Roxie's raspberry for Velma's I Can't Do It Alone was totally deserved. I can't believe she's opened so many international companies as Velma. Clearly, everything in her performance must have gotten lost in the translation to English.
Colman was good, but his voice wasn't strong enough to support the big notes and he played it a bit too fey for my tastes. I much would have rather had him do his impersonation of Maya Angelou and perform the role of Velma. That would have been a show worth seeing.
Vincent
Chorus Member Joined: 8/15/06
#18How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/6/10 at 9:51pm
I have to speak up here.
The show right now is in great shape. All the leads are wonderful as are the ensemble members. I saw Sharron Moore when she was on..she is funny and so great in her cell block monologue.
There is no celebrity casting at the moment ,and you have real Broadway actors on that stage. All Veterans who own that stage.
As for the comments that are negative towards anyone in the show no matter who it is..come on people.
And in defense of Terra who I have known since she first did the show in Montreal and Paris( Triple threat all around!!)...there is no lost in translation as English is her first language.
I utterly and completely disagree with the nasty comment previously posted. In fact her background in dance is quite extensive. A true Fosse dancer.
I enjoyed Colman too...saw it last week, he is funny and brings a wit and sense of humor to the role I haven't seen before. The show is fantastic ! go see it to see Ruthie and Terra together. They have been working together since London and have the duo down pat.
Please to anyone wanting to go... dont go off of the negative comments on this board.
Chicago Rocks!!
Updated On: 7/7/10 at 09:51 PM
DK69
Chorus Member Joined: 3/18/09
#19How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/7/10 at 6:08pmDoes anybody know if (or when) Ruthie would be supposed to be off before she leaves end of august ? Is there any performance without her ???
greensgreens
Broadway Star Joined: 10/14/09
#20How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/23/10 at 10:02am
Vincent, why should I rescind my comments? Is anyone around here expected to take back comments that provide an accurate assessment of their theatre-going experience - even if it wasn't rosy?
I paid full price to see the show and I was expecting a Broadway-caliber production. Save Ruthie, what I saw wasn't even community theatre - it was a high school production with good costumes. Not only do I feel entitled to a refund, I feel I should charge for the time I wasted (it can be prorated for the time Ruthie spends on stage). Unfortunately, that's not the way the world works. I paid, I saw and I will comment accordingly.
What's incredible is that I was being relatively forgiving regarding the performances - what I actually witnessed was far worse than anything I could have described.
I hope and pray people were having off-nights and encourage you and everyone else involved with the production (clearly you have a very personal connection) to invest their effort and energy into refining and improving their performances rather than lobby to censor my post. Go prove my opinions wrong to future audiences - that's what you do with negative criticism.
Sending me personal messages asking me to remove my post and lambasting me for having an opinion that dissents with your own is naive and a double standard.
Updated On: 7/23/10 at 10:02 AM
#21How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/23/10 at 12:26pmOut of town friends dragged me about six months ago (I saw the original cast, and two more casts in the following couple years). It's time to close - the thing is now nothing more than a tourist machine. Bring in a new show, and revive Chicago with a full set and costumes in 15 years.
#22How is the Current Chicago Cast?
Posted: 7/23/10 at 12:38pmSo I saw the show mainly to see Ruthie and she was out. The rest of the cast was good. Whoever filled in for Ruthie, Jill something, was not very good.
