I saw Chicago last night on tour at Torquay. It was quite amazing in that there was a almost full house. I have to say that generally it was excellent and received a standing ovation at the end. To me the surprise was Katie Secombe (harrys daughter), looked the part and the right age, excellent voice , excellent accent and acting, wonder why we havent heard of her before. Roxie was young and very good but Velma although a good voice, dancing average. Ian Kelsey as Billy was very good in the acting department, afterall he is experienced in that sphere but his voice was OK but no depth and in some scenes his voice in the solos was carried along by a chorus. I felt the gun scene where roxie acts as a puppet was not as good at all as D, it didnt put the comedy across as well. The ensemble did not have the energy of the westend one but the six muderesses in the cell block tange I thought were much better. Amos in this production had a much better voice but was younger but mary sunshines voice was wobbly. However, generally, it was a polished production and the audience appeared to love it by their reaction at the end.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. If you hadn't seen the West End version, you'd have been delighted. Maybe we'll get Katie Seycombe on at the WestEnd now.

Thanks Preston - I imagine Ian Kelsey would look quite similar to Darius in the part of Billy with his hair all greased back - I've never heard him sing but I can't imagine his voice would have the power of D's and he certainly hasn't got D's stage presence!! :) D's 'We Both Reached for the Gun' was brilliant - I was gobsmacked at how good he was

 

Louis Walsh was promoting Kelly Osbourne on 'This Morning' yesterday - I wonder how her sales are doing!

 

(I'm glad you enjoyed the show Preston - it is coming to Westcliff next month, I think, but I don't think I will go.

Ian Kelsey is still Billy there, is he Billy for the whole tour? I wonder if it will be going to Scotland!)

 

Julie

It's been in Scotland, certainly in Glasgow. I gave it a miss because I could practically say the lines with them and it's pretty pointless seeing a show if you can do that and you've got no particular interest in any of the cast.

Quote Baytree. It's been in Scotland, certainly in Glasgow. I gave it a miss because I could practically say the lines with them and it's pretty pointless seeing a show if you can do that and you've got no particular interest in any of the cast.

 

I feel the same now baytree, it was my fifth time of seeing it - twice with D, twice on tour and a local performance of it (also very good) so will give it a rest now. Next week seeing the Proclaimers on tour.

Even if I hadn't seen it so often I wouldn't have gone to see Ian Kelsey. I saw him on Heartbeat or Where The Heart Is or some such quite regularly because I wasn't in charge of the remote on Sundays and I just couldn't warm to him at all. It wasn't his character I disliked....... he was a regular family guy......... but to me, his performances were a bit 2 dimensional.

All this talk about Chicago makes me feel quite nostalgic. I really enjoyed the time he was in it. The cast and crew were so ice and fun to talk to and it was a really happy time. The excitement of the first run was great and having a summer for the Cambridge Theatre run was great too.

Did anyone see the results show tonite for strictly come dancing. The professional dancers,men and girls danced to a selection from chicago including the cell block tango and all that jazz. It was fantastic and showed the producers of the show how the dancing should be done.

Wasnt it brilliant :cheer:

I love this show.

It certainly was brilliant and shows that ballroom dancers can do a show dance equally if not better than the show dancers themselves.