Word: scripted
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Hamel's direction is skillful. Aside from occasionally awkward and distracting blocking, his staging is fluid. He trusts the script enough to allow actors to remain still on stage, letting the power of Cocteau's ideas hold our interest. Hamel should also receive the credit for an inspired set design, which beautifully highlights what Cocteau called the "false classicism" of this play set in the 19th century...
...urged this strategy for months after poring over accounts of Truman's 1948 campaign, in which he pressed his social program, bashed Republican lawmakers for obstructing it and convinced voters to replace them with Democrats. This time, however, neither the actor nor the stage seemed to fit the script. Voters, while disgusted by federal fecklessness, blame Republicans at least as much as Democrats. Also, as a senior Republican strategist conceded, "this give-'em-hell stuff really isn't George Bush, and it's not credible coming from him. It's too strident...
...choreography and exuberant performances, this show is saddled by clumsy direction, offensive racial stereotypes and a chorus whose constant vocal presence ensures that we will rarely hear the lead in any song. In Chicago clutter replaces cohesion, and although this cast tries to provide some razzle-dazzle, the poor script and staging result in only fitful success...
Heller cannot be blamed for the script's shortcomings, but her staging decisions accentuate the play's negative qualities. Producing Chicago in the Leverett House Old Library is a serious mistake. Although Heller and choreographer Allison McDonnel cleverly incorporate Leverett's stairwells into the action, the choice of venue leaves almost no room for the 18 actors. Chairs for the audience and the four-piece band swallow the majority of the available stage space; the side aisles should have been opened to provide the dancers with an outlet for movement. As is, the concentration of bodies results in our hearing...
...script, by New York playwrights and musicians, is not brilliant, but more than entertaining. Lyrics such as "Together we're better than so-so/Each of us is a virtuoso" will not likely be mistaken for Cole Porter. But the writing is slick and witty enough to slide even the silliest rhyme right past us. The music plays lightly with American music genres--pop, honky-tonk, blues--but stays mostly within the Broadway tradition. It's not memorable, but it is tuneful...