Hooray! The Reagle Music Theatre of Greater
Boston has gotten hipper. This summer’s fare is CHICAGO, followed by FIDDLER ON THE ROOF,
ending with LES MISERABLES. Not a Rogers & Hammerstein musical in sight.
(Please don’t call me. I love a R&H show but I’ve seen THE SOUND OF MUSIC
at least a dozen times at Reagle…or at least it seems like I have.)
The smashing Bob Fosse/ Kander & Ebb
musical, CHICAGO, is the longest running musical on Broadway for a reason: The
songs became instant hits the moment they debuted and the dancing was pure,
irreverent “Fosse” gold. Reagle’s CHICAGO
(playing through June 23rd) is directed and choreographed by Gerry
McIntyre who, himself, performed in the national tour of the musical. Broadway
and national tour veterans Angie Schworer and Sara Gettelfinger star as the
glamorous murderesses Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, with Rick Pessagno in the
flashy role of their smooth talking, “can’t fail” attorney.
You expect the ringers to be good---and
Schworer is delightful as the not so dumb blonde, sensational in her scenes
with Pessagno, especially the “We Both Reached for the Gun” puppet show rag.
Pessagno gives the show class and plenty of “flim-flam” in the bargain. But the
story in Reagle’s CHICAGO
is that the drop dead, show stopping performance belongs to Peter Mill. SPOILER
ALERT! If you’ve never seen CHICAGO
do not read any further.
Mill is, hands down, the best Mary Sunshine
I’ve ever seen. Most performers in the role concentrate on the falsetto and not
much else. Mill makes the character sparkle in addition to his vocal
acrobatics. His Mary Sunshine is charming, not at all the nasty interloper
favored by most directors. His character is so welcome that you can’t wait for her
to reappear. Mill isn’t the only local who walks away with a scene. Maryann
Zschau is a force to be reckoned with as the formidable prison matron (and a
little bit Mama Rose), even if she doesn’t play up the lesbian subtext. And
Rachel Bertone and company make the “Cell Block Tango” number crackle with
erotic energy. (Bertone again wows us en pointe in “Razzle Dazzle.”)
McIntyre’s choreography hews mostly to
Fosse’s brilliant, original work but sometimes it drifts into a “let’s play charades”
style of “indicating” (as in the “All That Jazz” hall and brawl
rhymes: hands draw a “hall” and fists up on “brawl”) when McIntyre substitutes
easier, but less Fossesque, less pleasing moves for some of the performers.
Sometimes it’s just odd, as “When Velma Takes the Stand” surrounded by
cheerleaders and a recurring “arms outstretched” goalpost maneuver.
McIntyre does get wonderful work
from the ensemble, with Jamal Rashann Callender a standout as Roxie’s infamous boyfriend/shooting
victim and Katie Clark, Jaclyn Miller, Linda Neel and Lizzie Porcari stunning as
the lethal “Cell Block” girls. Music director Dan Rodriguez makes the orchestra
and singers complement each other seamlessly (and Rodriguez plays a sweet “Rock
of Ages” on the accordion, to boot, during Pessagno’s slippery, smooth
summation). Jeremy Fenn-Smith conducts the crackerjack Reagle orchestra.
See Reagle’s CHICAGO for Pessagno’s on-the-money Billy
Flynn and for the locals, especially Peter Mill’s reason-to-celebrate Mary
Sunshine. Talk about larceny. Mill steals every scene he’s in and some he’s
not!
