A simply dazzling production of Chicago at Pitlochry

Peter Cargill

Let’s get straight to the point – it doesn’t get much better than this. Pitlochry Festival Theatre has gained an enviable reputation for musicals over the years, and with a top trio of director Richard Baron, choreographer Chris Stuart-wilson and designer Charles Cusick Smith at the helm for this year’s staging of Chicago, how could it go wrong? Quite simply, it doesn’t. From the opening strains of All That Jazz, it was sassy, brassy, and, above all, classy.

Ten in the brilliant band under director David Higham (he’s also called in to share MC duties) and 15 cast members serve up one of the slickest pieces of theatre ever seen in these parts – a feast to the ear and eye. The Book of Superlatives is found wanting.

Niamh Bracken (Velma) and Lucie-mae Sumner (Roxie) lead from the front as the two murderesses who vie for the attention of their attorney Billy Flynn (Carl Patrick) and the gullible press.

In movement and song, this trio are quite breathtaking – but then they all are.

There’s Alan Mirren as Roxie’s hapless husband Amos, Irene-myrtle Forrester as prison boss Mamma Morton and (spoiler alert!) Alex Scott Fairley as reporter Mary Sunshine.

Everyone will have their own showstopping moment, but high on the list will be the Cell Block Tango, when the inmates protest their innocence – “then he ran into my knife – TEN TIMES”!

Movement is uber slick – never a Fosse-esque click of the finger or a flick of the wrist is out of sync. Even taking a deep breath is in unison.

And, of course, there’s the traditional Baron-style curtain call – always a delight.

We are tired of describing Pitlochry musicals as worthy of London West End. From now on, we should refer to London shows as “Pitlochry standard”. A real razzle dazzler of a production.

Chicago, the Ebb, Kander, Fosse smash hit, continues on various dates until October 20.