Review: CHICAGO THE MUSICAL⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ at Het Amsterdams Theaterhuis

Happily Ever After Productions presents this season: Chicago the Musical. HEAP never seems to shy away from a challenge, and takes on the icon that is Chicago The Musical. This amateur production is blast, and a joy to watch. The love for the material is ever-present and lingering.

Director Sara Watts takes great pride in quality and it shows. She doesn't cut corners, makes intelligent choices on what to perform and what to change from the original script and together with her choreographers what to put the spotlight on, so the performers can shine bright.

As the announcer (or in this case, conductor Elliot Morgan in a sparkling suit) states so clearly:

"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."

There are two casts, an opening cast and a closing cast. We mark: opening night, 3rd of March 2023.

We see a witty and smart Roxie Hart (Camille Gribbons) who is meant to play this role. Camille's acting choices are dosed, well-thought out and she stands her ground. Her rendition together with Wesley Curtis as Billy Flynn in We Both Reached For The Gun was splendid.

Wesley Curtis as Billy Flynn

As for the other leading lady, Velma...

Velma Kelly is a lot of things. A diva, a murderess, dramatic, egotistical and with dreams of grandeur, but she is not the comic relief. Witty yes, but not the almost clowneske character of how she's portrayed in this rendition. Regrettably, Rhijja Janssen as Velma does herself a disservice by her own strong facial expressions, which are distracting from her vocal skills. Less is more. If Rhijja can master the art of doing less, she could enchant the audience.

In general, the whole company is doing a swell job and the sheer joy of performing is felt throughout the performance.

A few special shoutouts worth mentioning:

Trish Butterfield as Mama Morton: excellent.

Daniel Hillel-Tuch as Mr. Cellophane aka Amos Hart, endearingly naive and tragic, as Amos should be.

Choreographers Annick Huizinga & Yaël Sarioa for sure have challenged the cast.

Staying true within possibilities (some of Chicago's choreography is only for trained professional dancers and dancing anything Fosse is nothing if not perfected) to the original material by dance icon Bob Fosse, and in true Fosse style for other parts.

For instance, Razzle Dazzle in the Broadway version is full of almost acrobatic skill, which is quite a sight to behold, but this staging has done wonderfully different, yet staying true to the sentiment. They have worked hard with the talented ensemble and it shows.

They should be beyond proud.

Towards the end, it felt a little bit more rushed. The staging of Class could have been more centre stage and towards the audience. Nowadays felt more uptempo than usual.It would have been great if they took a little bit more time to wrap the story up, a grande finale they deserved.

HEAP has done it again, and with a lot of hard work and passion for the genre, done a wonderful job in putting up this rendition of Chicago the Musical.

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