Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
They Had It Coming
‘Chicago’ is dream come to fruition on Rep stage
So much responsibility rests on the shoulders of the cast, crew and creative team for “Chicago,” opening this weekend at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. It’s the first production for the resurrected regional theater since it suspended operations in April 2018. It’s the first production since the death last fall of Rep founder Cliff Fanin Baker. And for the theater going forward, it’s going to have to be an artistic and financial success.
“For me personally, this show is dedicated to all of the Rep friends and family who worked so diligently to save the Rep,” says director and choreographer Ron Hutchins, who stepped in to helm the production that Baker had originally intended to direct himself.
“Most notably it is to honor Cliff Baker, who founded this wonderful theater for us to create art. We are going to give the community a production of ‘Chicago’ they will never forget.”
The Kander & Ebb musical, set during the Roaring 1920s, centers on Roxie Hart (Adriana Milbrath), who hopes to parlay her murder of a straying boyfriend — much to the befuddlement of her devoted but clueless husband Amos (Matt Allen) — into fame and fortune. She’s depending on the assistance of crafty, slick-talking lawyer Billy Flynn (Christopher Johnstone) while she fends off her rival, Velma Kelly (Daisy Hobbs), who heretofore has been murder-mad Chicago’s biggest celebrity.
Hutchins says he is approaching “Chicago” wholly as a vaudeville show, “in the style of [original] director/ choreographer Bob Fosse.” Those vaudeville elements are particularly on display in the courtroom scene during Roxie’s trial, which is so complex and so dependent on sound effects that he felt he couldn’t “block” it without percussionist Pat Lindsey present. “It’s actually my favorite part of the show,” he says.
He has praise for his “great cast,” a mix of New York actor-dancers and a cadre of locals; for Mike Nichols’ set; and for Trish Clark’s costumes.
Hutchins has been involved in nearly two dozen productions at the Rep, dating back more than two decades, but it has been almost nine years since he was last in Little Rock, directing and choreographing 2010’s “Smokey Joe’s Cafe.” He says there’s no particular struggle to handle directing and choreographing a show, as long as his time management is good, although he finds that as a director, he’s also in charge of everything, including the choice of pre-show music.
And he’s particularly glad to be working again at the Rep. “I love this house,” he says. “There’s not a bad seat in the theater. Of course, that means the audience can see everything, so the choreography has got to be clean.”
This show is also a homecoming for musical director Michael Rice; the Rep premiered his musical adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s “The Good Woman of Setzuan” in 1985 and “Pageant!” (now titled “American Beauty”) in 1989. His Rep credits also include productions of “Marry Me a Little” and “Avenue Q.”
Rice has also maintained his Arkansas connection through the Argenta Community Theater, which in 2017 premiered his music drama “During Wind and Rain: A Delta Family Album,” an homage to his Desha County roots with a libretto by Arkansas author Margaret Jones Bolsterli.
“Musically,” he says, “[‘Chicago’] is pretty straightforward — it’s Kander & Ebb, it’s vaudeville, and it’s jazz. Vocally, you just throw it out there.”