Barry & Fran Weissler
In association with
Kardana / Hart Sharp Entertainment
Present
CHICAGO
Stephanie Pope (seated) as "Velma Kelly" and female ensemble
in the six time Tony Award-Winning Broadway Musical, CHICAGO
Jones Hall
August 4th - 16th, 1998
Book by Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse
Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins
Original Production Directed and Choreographed by Bob Fosse
STARRING
Velma Kelly.............................................Stephanie Pope
Roxie Hart................................................Belle Callaway
Billy Flynn................................................Alan Thicke
Amos Hart...............................................Michael Tucci
Matron "Mama" Morton.......................Carol Woods
Fred Casely.............................................Allen Hidalgo
Sergeant Fogarty, The Doctor.............Ron Kellum
Liz.............................................................Sharon Moore
Annie.......................................................Tamara Jenkins
June..........................................................Donna Marie Asbury
Hunyak.....................................................Lynne Morrissey
Mona.........................................................Mary Ann Hermansen
Mary Sunshine........................................R. Bean
Go-To-Hell Kitty......................................Angie L. Schworer
Harry..........................................................Gregory Butler
Aaron.........................................................Destan Owens
The Judge..................................................Gregory Butler
The Bailiff...................................................Ken Alan
Martin Harrison.........................................Gary Kilmer
Court Clerk.................................................Ken Alan
The Jury......................................................Mark Price
THE SCENE: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. THE LATE 1920's
Choreography by ANN REINKING in the style of Bob Fosse
Directed by WALTER BOBBIE
Supervising Music Director....................Rob Fisher
Music Director...........................................Vincent Fanuele
Alan Thicke as "Billy Flynn" and Company
SCENES AND MUSICAL NUMBERS
VELMA KELLY AND ROXIE HART
SING A SONG OF UNRELENTING DETERMINATION AND UNMITIGATED EGO
ACT I
All That Jazz...........Funny Honey.........Cell Block Tango........When You're Good to Mama
Tap Dance..........All I Care About........A Little Bit of Good.........We Both Reached for the Gun
Roxie.................I Can't Do it Alone...................My Own Best Friend
ACT II
I Know a Girl.......Me and My Baby........Mister Cellophane......When Velma Takes The Stand
Razzle Dazzle................Class.................Nowadays..........Hot Honey Rag..............Finale
GIVE 'EM THE OLD RAZZLE DAZZLE........RAZZLE DAZZLE 'EM
Gary Kilmer, Belle Calaway and Jack Hayes in the Tony-Award Winning Broadway Musical CHICAGO. Photo: Carol Rosegg
CHICAGO
The Drop-Dead Broadway Musical
Razzle Dazzles Houston Audiences
August 4 - 16, 1998
As Part of the Mastercard Broadway Series
The razzle dazzle of the big trial.....the transparent motives of big-talking, big-buck lawyers....the
bribes and lies in the slammer....getting away with murder. It's just another day in CHICAGO, the
Drop-Dead Broadway Musical, coming to Jones Hall August 4 through 16, as a presentation of the
1997 - 1998 MasterCard Broadway Series. CHICAGO features what may be Kander and Ebb's
finest score and is choreographed in the style of the late Bob Fosse. Tickets for this award-winning
musical are on sale now and can be purchased at all Ticketmaster locations or charge-by phone at
713-629-3700. Ticket prices range from $43.50 - $49.50.
CHICAGO is the recipient of six 1997 Tony Awards, including Best Musical Revival, six Drama
Desk Awards, five Outer Critics Circle Awards, an award from the New York Drama Critics'
Circle, and most recently, the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.
CHICAGO is a magical evening that fuses all the elements of dynamic, vibrant theatre. Featuring
well-known songs "All That Jazz," "Mr. Cellophant," and "Razzle Dazzle" by the Tony-Award
winning team of John Kander and Fred Ebb (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Cabaret) and a sultry
book by Ebb and original director and choreographer Bob Fosse, CHICAGO makes getting away
with murder sound - and look - incredibly sexy.
THE NAME ON EVERYBODY'S LIPS IS GONNA BE ROXY. WHO
SAYS MURDER'S NOT AN ART?
In a plot that could be ripped from today's tabloid headlines, CHICAGO tells the story of Roxy
Hart, a chorus girl who becomes famous when she murders her lover, invents her defense, and
manipulates the media to become a major celebrity. her media-savvy lawyer, Billy Flynn, creates a
"Razzle Dazzle" trial that helps make Roxy a star. She later teams up with the fellow murderess
Velma Kelly to become a singing sensation duo.
CHICAGO is based on the 1926 play of the same name by Maurine Dallas Watkins. Ms.
Watkins, writing a feature story for The Chicago Tribune, covered the real-life trial of Belva
Gaerner (portrayed as Velma Kelly), a married cabaret singer accused of murdering her husband in
CHICAGO. Shortly after this, Beulah Annan (portrayed as Roxie Hart) was convicted of killing
her lover. Ms. Watkins covered both trials and endowed the residents of "Murderess's Row" with
celebrity status.
The play inspired the 1942 movie, Roxie Hart, starring Ginger Rogers. The Kander / Ebb musical
premiered in 1975 and ran until 1977.
CHICAGO features Emmy-nominated star of stage and screen, Alan Thicke as the smooth-talking
lawyer, "Billy Flynn." Mr. Thicke is best known for his 1980's role as psychiatrist and father "Jason
Seaver" on ABC-TV's hit series "Growing Pains." From talk-variety show host to Emmy host, TV
movie lead to one-man stand-up act, his professional history is as varied as his talents. He has
recently revisited his writing craft to create sitcom pilot scripts and a nationally sundicated humor
column for The Toronto Sun chain. Mr. Thicke added musical theatre to his repertoire this year
co-starring with Jason Alexander to rave reviews as the philandering "Sheldrake" in the L.A.
production of Promises, Promises (Neil Simon / Burt Bacharach).
Stephanie Pope (center) and company perform "All That Jazz" in the six time Tony-Award Winning Broadway
Musical CHICAGO. Photo: Carol Rosegg
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MISS VELMA KELLY IN AN ACT OF
DESPERATION........
The cast also includes Stephanie Pope (Velma Kelly), Belle Callaway (Roxie Hart) and Michael
Tucci (Amos Hart). Ms. pope has appeared on Broadway in the Bob Fosse revival, Sweet Charity
with Debbie Allen and Fosse's last original Broadway musical, BIG DEAL. Most recently she
appeared on Broadway in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Nathan Lane.
Award-winner, Belle Callaway has appeared in Mame, Sweet Charity and Cabaret. Belle made
her Broadway debut, thanks to Tommy Tune, in The Will Rogers Follies.
Rounding out the cast is Michael Tucci. Best known for his role as "Sonny" in the hit movie and
musical Grease, he has earned awards among critics in both New York and Los Angeles. His
theatrical credits include Grease, Godspell, All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, Leave
it to Jane and American Mosaic. In addition, Mr. Tucci has been seen as a regular on the highly
successful television series', Diagnosis Murder and It's the Gary Shandling Show.
Stephanie Pope (Left) and Belle Callaway (Right)
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BOB FOSSE (Co-Author, Original Director, and Choreographer)
A director, choreographer, dancer, and actor for films and stage, Fosse was especially famous for
his innovative and spectacular staging, with the emphasis on exhilarating dance sequences.
BOB FOSSE began his career in Chicago where he studied ballet, tap, and acrobatic dance from
an early age. While still a teenager, he performed with a partner as the Riff Brothers in vaudeville
and burlesque theatres.
After graduating from high school in 1945, he spent two years in the U.S. Navy before moving to
New York and studying acting at the American Theatre Wing. He then toured in the chorus of
various productions before
making his Broadway debut in the musical revue, Dance Me A Song.
As a dancer, he performed in two -long running musicals, Call Me Mister and Make Mine
Manhattan, followed by such Hollywood films as Give A Girl A Break and Kiss Me Kate. As a
choreographer, his first show-stopping number was Steam Heat from Pajama Game. This he
followed with such hits as Damn Yankees with Gwen Verdon, Bells Are Ringing with Judy
Holiday, New Girl in Town again with Gwen Verdon, and How to Succeed in Business Without
Really Trying with Robert Morse.
He began his career as a director and choreographer with Redhead with Gwen Verdon, Little Me
with Sid Caesar, and two more Gwen Verdon musicals, Sweet Charity and CHICAGO. He also
staged the innovative musical smash, PIPPIN, the highly successful dance revue DANCIN' and the
1986 musical BIG DEAL.
For the screen, Fosse directed the films Sweet Charity with Shirley MacLaine, All That Jazz with
Roy Scheider, Lenny with Dustin Hoffman, Star 80 with Eric Roberts and most spectacularly,
Cabaret with Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey.
CHICAGO is directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Ann Reinking, Fosse's longtime
muse, in the original choreographer's unique and sexy dance vocabulary.
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WALTER BOBBIE (The Director)
Received the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics' Circle Award as Best Director for
CHICAGO. He was the artistic director of City Center's acclaimed Encores! Series and directed
its premiere production, Fiorello! Other credits include For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls at EST;
Durang, Durang at MTC; Andrea Martin's Nude nude Totally Nude at NYSF and A Grand Night
for Singing at Rainbow & Stars and Roundabout Theater. Mr. Bobbie is also an actor whose
appearances on Broadway and off-Broadway include Guys and Dolls, Assassins, Getting Married,
Anything Goes, Cafe Crown, Driving Miss Daisy, I Love My Wife, A History of the American
Film and the original Grease. He has appeared in many films and television series, and is a frequent
guest on radio with Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion.
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ANN REINKING ( Choreographer)
1997 Tony Award-winner, Best Choreography for Chicago. Other credits include choreography:
Applause-national tour, Paper Mill Playhouse; CHICAGO - Encores! NY City Center; Bye-Bye
Birdie - ABC-TV; Legends - Joffrey Ballet Chicago; Nilsson / Schmillson - Seattle's Spectrum
Dance Theatre; Threepenny opera - Williamston Theatre Festival; CHICAGO starring Bebe
Neuwirth and Juliet Prowse - Civic Light Opera of Long Beach (L.A. Drama Critics Award); Suite
to Sondheim - Pacific Northwest Ballet; Pal Joey - Goodman theatre of Chicago (Jefferson
Award), Theatre: Roxie Hart - CHICAGO, Encores! NY City Center; Bye-Bye Birdie - national
tour opposite Tommy Tune; Bob Fosse's Dancin (Tony nomination); Sweet Charity (revival);
Roxie Hart in Bob Fosse's CHICAGO; Pippin, Coco, Maggie in Over Here! (Theatre World,
Clarence Derwent and Outer Critics Circle Awards), Goodtime Charley (Tony nomination); The
Unsinkable Molly Brown. Film: All That Jazz; Annie; Micki and Maude; Movie, Movie. Founder
and Artistic Director of the Broadway Theatre Project. Received the Governor's Award -
Ambassador of the Arts for the state of Florida, 1994.
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JOHN KANDER AND FRED EBB (Music / Book / Lyrics)
THEATRE: Flora, The Red Menace, Cabaret, The Happy Time, Zorba, 70 Girls 70, CHICAGO,
The Act, Woman of the year, The Rink, The World Goes Round - The Kander and Ebb Musical,
Kiss of the Spider Woman and Steel Pier.
FILMS: Cabaret, Norman Rockwell: A Short Subject, Lucky Lady, NY NY, Funny Lady,
Kramer Vs. Kramer, A Matter of Time, Places In The Heart, French Postcards, Stepping Out.
TELEVISION: Liza with a Z (Liza Minnelli), Goldie and Liza Together (with Goldie Hawn), Ol
Blue Eyes is Back, Baryshnikov on Broadway, An Early Frost, Liza in London. Upcoming: The
Skin of Our Teeth.
John Kander and Fred Ebb have been writing together since 1965. Both had written with other
partners, but their music publisher, Tommy Valando, thought they would work well together.
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CHICAGO is a presentation of the 1997 - 1998 MasterCard Broadway Series. MasterCard
International, with headquarters in Purchase, NY, is a global payments company with one of the
world's most recognized brands. It is dedicated to helping more than 22,000 financial institutions
provide their customers with a variety of payment services.
Tickets for the Houston engagement of CHICAGO are on sale now and can be purchased at all
Ticketmaster ticket centers including Fiesta Stores, the Aerial Theater box office, Foley's, Randall's
and the Houston Arena Theatre box office. Prices range from $43.50 to $49.50 depending upon
time, date and seat location. To charge-by-phone, call 713-629-3700; for groups of 20 or more,
call 713-693-2692 or toll-free at 1-800-889-8457. Performance times are Tuesday through
Friday at 8:00pm, Saturday at 2:00pm and 8:00pm and Sunday at 2:00pm and 7:00pm.