Pulp | Arts Around Ann Arbor

AACT’s Wendy Sielaff insists it’s pure coincidence that Civic is staging “Chicago” next week in the wake of the recent, multi-Oscar-winning film version of Bob Fosse’s 1975 musical. “Last year we were sitting around tossing out names of musicals we might do during our 2003-04 season,” she says. “And it came down to a case of ‘Hey, let’s do “Chicago!”’ since nobody had staged it in quite a while.

“So we decided to do it, but none of us was aware at the time that Hollywood was making a movie of it. We certainly thank the film for all the publicity, but at the same time we’ve tried to stay very true to the Broadway version.

“We hope that if people liked the movie, they’ll love the show.”

“Chicago” in fact boasts a lengthy artistic lineage, so pay close attention: Director/choreographer Fosse’s stage show was loosely inspired by the 1942 Ginger Rogers movie “Roxie Hart,” which was loosely inspired by a 1928 silent film titled “Chicago,” which was adapted from Maurine Watkins’ 1926 Broadway drama also titled “Chicago” - which was inspired by a Chicago murder case Watkins covered as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune.

Given this multiplicity of sources, it’s not surprising that director Sielaff wants Lydia Mendelssohn audiences to appreciate the musical as an entity apart from the movie.

“I don’t want people to judge us by the movie. I can imagine people saying ‘Why no color?’ (Civic’s Chicago is adhering strictly to Fosse’s black-and-white set-and-costume motif). ‘Hey, that wasn’t in the movie!’ ‘Hey where’s that song that was in the movie?’

“We’re keeping this a stage musical, true to Broadway, and we’ve never wavered from that decision.”

AACT’s “Chicago” cast includes six plot principals and 19 chorus members, plus two nightclub MCs. “We could have just used one MC,” Sielaff says, “but what the heck? We wanted to use as many people as we could.”

Even so, choosing a cast was no easy matter, given that more than 200 hopefuls auditioned for the show in the spring. “We had to make some very tough decisions,” says Sielaff. “There’s going to be a lot of pure, raw talent out there on stage. There’s no fancy set changes, no costume changes, just pure, primal theater. We knew when we cast people that they had to be the best of the best of the best.”

Leading players include Kathy Waugh as celebrity-hungry husband-killer Roxie Hart; Anthony Provenzola as her luckless spouse, Amos; January Provenzola (Anthony’s real-life wife) as dancer/singer Velma Kelly, Roxie’s arch-rival in domestic blood-letting; Glenn Bugala as defense attorney supreme Billy Flynn; Ava Rodgers as jail matron Momma Morton; and M. LaFlamme as performer of dubious gender Mary Sunshine.

Aaron Rabb and Chrisy Klavitter share duties as nightclub MCs, while Rachel Francisco, Kirsten Dahmer, Caitlin Frankel, Emily Karpiuk and Michelle Gasco play the song-belting, high-kicking Merry Murderesses.

Sielaff says co-choreographers Tawna Dabney and Jennifer White have created dances to the John Kander/Fred Ebb musical score “that are original, yet very true to Fosse (and his patented hip-thrusting razzle-dazzle) artistically and emotionally. They’ve stayed true to the feel of Fosse.

“It’s been an absolute pleasure directing these people. My dancers have just danced their hearts out, and this is not easy stuff. But they’re accomplished dancers who are just incredible. We watch them and our jaws just drop.

“This includes the male dancers, and when you’ve got great male dancers as well as female, you know you’ve got something very special.”

Musical director Zachary Ryan will conduct an orchestral ensemble that remains on the Mendelssohn stage throughout the show, as per the Fosse original. The “Chicago” set will be dominated by a stage-long cat-walk overhang, a large stage-center pole (“Everyone wants to slide down it,” says Sielaff), plus “a lot of intricate stairs,” says the director. “There’s some 40 steps ... and the dancers have been practicing going up and down very fast in very high heels.”

Sielaff stresses that seats are still available for all performances, “although sales are booming. And it’s certainly a bargain. When we saw ‘Chicago’ (in revival) in New York, it was $125 a ticket. So hey, $21 or less isn’t bad.”

PREVIEW

'Chicago'

Who: Ann Arbor Civic Theatre.

What: Classic Kander and Ebb musical recently given new life as a movie.

When: 8 p.m.Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. next Sunday.

Where: Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre in the University of Michigan League, 911 N. University Ave.

How much: Tickets are $21 and $19 Friday through Sunday, $14 Thursday. For reservations and information, call (734) 971-2228 or visit www.a2ct.org.