"With The Right Song And Dance... You Can Get Away With Murder"
(side of National Theatre's CHICAGO marquee)

CHICAGO ("The Drop-Dead Broadway Musical"), is currently playing on Broadway, in London and several other venues worldwide. During December of 1999 the CHICAGO "Roxie" national touring company performed at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., starring Nana Visitor (as Roxie Hart), Vicki Lewis (Velma Kelly) and Robert Urich (Billy Flynn). The show's synopsis & plot has been documented enough that I need not repeat it here. The performance I attended was on December 28th, 1999 during its final week in D.C.

I'll start right off the bat and say: that was one of the most incredible experiences I ever had! I may be accused of a little favoritism toward Nana - I've been a member of her fan club(s) since 1995, fer chrissakes! - but if you've already seen her onstage as Roxie, I think you'd agree: she gave one hell of a performance!! To catch Nana in CHICAGO, I drove nearly 11 hours from Jacksonville, FL to Washington and was not disappointed in the least. But also give the entire cast a big round of applause, too. Robert Urich showed a lot of brass, and that suits the manipulative Flynn to a tee. Vicki Lewis sang with considerable power and swagger, was funny as hell, but her dancing (while pretty good at times, and showing a lot of comic flair) was not nearly as graceful as Nana. Other stand-outs include Ray Bokhour's portly, long-suffering Amos Hart, Brian Carmack as Roxie's fated stud-in-waiting Fred Casely, and the delightfully mysterious Krissy Richmond as Hunyak ("Nnnnyot... Guil-ty!"). Carol Woods and J. Maldonado flexed their considerable vocal-cords as "Mama" Morton and Mary Sunshine, respectively. But above it all struts Nana! The audience applauded wildly after every number (even Nana joined in on a couple of occasions), and reaction to Nana's numbers were particularly enthusiastic. There's no question that Broadway & vaudeville is in her blood and the crowd knew it!

Even more amazing is the fact that Nana hasn't danced onstage in over 15 years (42nd Street) and, while she might not consistently kick very high like she probably used to, Nana still displayed remarkable fluidity, style, athleticism and raw energy throughout every number she danced in (particularly during "Roxie" and "Me And My Baby") - in my opinion, an incredible feat after such a layoff. Of course, I mustn't forget that upto this point she has been performing CHICAGO almost nightly for over six straight weeks and is, let's say, "broken-in" to the role. Equally unforgettable is her flair for mixing balletic moves with the most physical of slapstick-comedy: "We Both Reached For The Gun" featured Nana's realistically loose-limbed impersonation of a ventriloquist's dummy, right down to mimicking the mouth-actions (while Urich sang & "manipulated" her), arms dangling nearly out of their sockets, and flopping her wiry frame about like Ray Bolger's Scarecrow in The Wizard Of Oz. She also gets hilariously waltzed, spun and tossed about during Roxie's "trial" in Act 2. Needless to say, Nana pulled no stops and danced her ass off!

Her singing was as good or better than I expected (judging by her rendition of "Fever" in the Deep Space Nine episode His Way), with "Funny Honey" and a sobbing "Nowadays" as highlights. In "Roxie" and other numbers Nana clearly defined what her Roxie was all about - a squeaky, spoiled, platinum-blonde (picture Bryn Newhouse of Working Girl in a black teddy & tights??) Betty Boop of a strumpet who could still manipulate, a departure from more "brassy" Roxies as defined by Ann Reinking (CHICAGO's choreographer), Chita Rivera and Ruthie Henshall in previous productions. She lacked those performers' sheer vocal power but Nana proved she can still belt one if she had to (just ask the sound-guy to turn up her mike a notch...).

Disappointments were very few, but some did occur. Nana and Vicki were not quite in sync in places during "Hot Honey Rag" (plus they didn't cartwheel as expected), but their sheer enthusiasm made up for that. Then again, Vicki's cartwheel & dancing in "I Can't Do It Alone" was god-awful, but I think she meant it that way for comic effect (Roxie's reaction: "That STINKS!!!"). Then again, the Velma-numbers attain a completely new dimension when performed by an outstanding dancer such as Ute Lemper. In their duets ("Nowadays" (Part 2) and "My Own Best Friend"), Vicki was a little overpowering - more balance is needed here because Nana isn't as strong a belter. Vicki may have been the better singer, but Nana was far & away the better dancer. Both equally excelled as comediennes. Speaking of dancing, I learned that there were 3 different choreographic-versions of "Me And My Baby" based on level of difficulty, and Nana danced the so-called "easy" version. She still did a great job with the vaudeville-style leg-shuffling & synching flawlessly with her two male partners, but even more athletic versions were danced by Reinking, Charlotte D'Amboise, Sandy Duncan and a few others, and I would've liked to see Nana perform that if she could.

One final note: although Urich and Vicki were more well-known through their past TV-roles, just about everyone in the audience, it seemed, was talking amongst themselves about Nana during the intermission & after the show. Not necessarily the show in general, but Nana specifically, as if they have just discovered what could be the best-kept secret in show business. But attribute that to Nana's intense work-ethic and sheer dedication to her craft as to why her name was on everybody's lips in the theatre (in spite of her apparent lack of notoriety outside of the "Star Trek universe"). They knew she delivered a sensational performance and everyone (myself included) wasn't about to forget it (or Nana) for a looong while!

"MY EXIT MUSIC, PLEASE!!"

Washington Post ad for CHICAGO

This page dedicated to the memory of Robert Urich (1946-2002).