ROXIE’S BACK IN TOWN!
MY KIND OF PLAY, CHICAGO IS

In Jazz Age Chicago, 1924 to be precise, Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner were tried and subsequently acquitted of murder. A young Tribune reporter and aspiring writer, Maurine Dallas Watkins, covered the two (unrelated) murder cases for the paper and later used them as inspiration for what would become her most famous creation: the vicious, bitchy, and wonderfully witty satire Chicago. The play was a hit on both Broadway and the West End, was adapted into two movies (in 1927 and 1942), then a musical by Broadway greats Kander & Ebb and Bob Fosse. The musical opened to mixed reviews in 1975, was revived in 1996, this time to spectacular reviews and Tony awards galore. Then we got the movie adaptation of the musical, which became the first musical in over forty years to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. And now, almost a hundred years after the play first made its appearance, Chicago has now lapsed into the public domain and seizing upon that opportunity, Redtwist Theatre presents another adaptation, farcical this time, in the aptly titled and thoroughly delightful Chicago: Queerly Adapted From The Play You’ve Never Heard Of That Inspired The Musical You Can’t Get Away From.

Chelsea Rolfes and Jack Seijo

In Redtwist’s tiny space, the seats are arranged around a red, red boudoir. The bed front and center. The play opens mid-coitus, with Roxie Hart and Fred Casely in the throes of passion. Then he dumps her, she shoots him, there’s a quick interrogation with her and her milquetoast husband Amos, some conspiring with a slimy reporter, and then with an elegant movement that elicited oohs of admiration from the audience, Brandii Champagne’s clever set is transformed into a prison cell where Roxie and the jailhouse warden Zelda Morton clip out articles about the trial while fellow alleged murderess Velma Kelly lounges in a corner of the cell and bemoans the subpar conditions she’s been forced to endure while she waits for trial. Soon unctuous criminal defense attorney Billy Flynn is introduced to our spiky heroine and they’re off to manipulate the court system, the press, and the general public by any means necessary.

Macaria Chaparro Martinez, Chelsea Rolfes and Jack Seijo

Chicago is a gleefully amoral satire of American society whose bite has only deepened over the years and given its rapid-fire pacing, colorful characters, and whiplash-inducing twists and turns of plot, the real surprise is not that it’s been adapted into a farce but that it took so long to do so. Fortunately for those of us in the audience, the Redtwist ensemble’s farce bonafides are well established. Watkin’s original stage play is adapted by ensemble members Eileen Dixon and Dusty Brown. Demonstrating stellar précis-like editing skills, they’ve excised every extraneous bit from the original text with the result that the show doesn’t move so much as hurtle down its narrative path at a breakneck pace. Not content with shaming long-winded writers, Dixon also takes on directorial duties, keeping her troupe of actors moving with the assurance of a circus ringmaster. The interweaving of folk hymns sung by the prisoners into the narrative to buy the actors time to change into some of Madeline Felauer’s more elaborate period-appropriate costumes is another clever touch.

Shaina Toledo, Jack Seijo, Caroline Kidwell,
Chelsea Rolfes, JT Nagle and Macaria Chaparro Martinez

As Roxie Hart, Chelsea Rolfes is pitch perfect. Using her considerable presence to own the stage, she gives a brassy, bawdy performance that is as deliciously nasty and spiteful as it is hysterical. In this she is equally matched by Jack Seijo’s Billy Flynn (who also essays the bit part of Fred Casely). Spare a thought for poor put-upon Amos Hart; JT Nagle brings the perfect amount of earnestness and puppy-eyed mopishness to the ultimate sap without sacrificing the funny–I almost missed his silent banter with the district attorney in the courtroom scene until laughter from the audience to my left alerted me to the jesting taking place on the side.

Jasmine Robertson and Chelsea Rolfes

It seems unfair to single out anyone from the rest of the cast, functioning as they do as a tightly-calibrated riotous ensemble but a tip of the hat to Redtwist’s chameleon-in-residence Caroline Kidwell who plays three drastically different roles (and sings a song to boot) and nails them all.

Ashley Anderson and Jack Seijo

A special mention to the make-up work (which is uncredited) that abandons any pretense to reality in favor of maximizing hilarity; the moustache on Macaria Chaparro Martinez’s Sgt. Murdock, which doesn’t seem to follow any of the laws of physics, is practically a character unto itself. The attention to detail extends to the poster design (also uncredited) which is exquisite.

Jasmine Robertson, JT Nagle and Caroline Kidwell

Redtwist Theatre’s Chicago is proof that lighthearted and silly doesn’t have to mean insubstantial, or unintelligent. It’s a production whose goal is simply to entertain and amuse and there’s nothing wrong with that, especially when done this well.

Caroline Kidwell and Shaina Toledo

I don’t always want to eat my vegetables.
Sometimes I just want chocolate and a glass of champagne.
This sweet, effervescent, and uproarious farce is the perfect treat.

Ashley Anderson and Shaina Toledo

photos by Tom McGrath/TCMCG photography

Chicago: Queerly Adapted From The Play You’ve Never Heard Of
That Inspired The Musical You Can’t Get Away From
Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W Bryn Mawr Ave
Thurs-Sat at 7:30; Sun at 3:30 (Nov 6 & 16 understudy performances)
1 hour 40 minutes, no intermission
ends on November 23, 2025
for tickets, ($10-$60), visit Redtwist

for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago

Shaina Toledo and Macaria Chaparro Martinez