Kinetic Theatre: Chicago | Stage Review
****
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Tue 23 Jul
It’s a hot one tonight in Cardiff, not the sort of night you want to be packed into an auditorium in Cardiff University with another 100 or so people, but everybody is happy to be there, as Kinetic School of Performing Arts are about to dazzle us with their take on the classic musical {Chicago}. Having already witnessed an outstanding show by the youngsters of the school, with {Camp Rock} a few months ago, I was excited to see if the older teens are just as talented. I wasn’t disappointed.
A quick synopsis for those unfamiliar with the musical in question, its 1920’s Chicago and Roxie has just murdered her lover. Managing to convince her husband that he was in fact a burglar, her husband Amos agrees to take the fall for her, only to find out that he was betrayed when he finds out the name of the victim. When Roxie is sent down, she forms a love-hate relationship with Velma, herself a well-known criminal from whom she steals her celebrity from as well as her lawyer. Desperate, Velma cooks up a fiendish plan to get her fame back, which includes faking pregnancy and manipulating her lawyer all the while realising that she needs Roxie more than she realises, in turn creating one of the most iconic duos in cinema/theatre history.
The show opens with Velma telling the back story of her incarceration and immediately you’re drawn in by Zoe Kelly’s confident portrayal of the cold callous Velma. She’s front and centre for the famous {All That Jazz,} displaying a voice to match her acting ability. Chicago marks Zoe’s final role for Kinetic and on this evidence she will leave big shoes to fill. As will her co-star Georgia Tonge as Roxie. There was an instant onstage camaraderie with these two playing the pivotal roles of Roxie and Velma and that kinship makes their strained relationship all the more exciting and really sold it to the watching crowd. Harri Herniman played the hopelessly manipulated Billy Flynn, as if he was born to play it, giving us the old {Razzle Dazzle} while the rest of the supporting cast each played their roles, however big or small, like their lives depended on it.
As I mentioned, I’ve seen the younger members of the school in action and you can really see how that carries right on through as they get older, with the same disciplines installed at all ages. Every number was carried out with lots of gusto from the entire company and the modest stage set was once again used to full effect, creating the perfect vaudevillian backdrop and making a modest production seem like a full on Broadway spectacle. Kinetic just keep getting better and better. They obviously have found a formula that works and they just keep producing talented kids, who will go on to bigger and better things. But tonight, well, {Chicago} is just another massive success in a long line of Kinetic successes and long may it continue.
words Chris Andrews
