Chicago the Musical #FlashbackFriday

The very first musical theatre production I was ever a part of was Chicago the Musical, and what a musical to enter the world of musical theatre with!

It is certainly my favourite musical and the one that holds my fondest memories (not excluding the fact that I met my now-husband on this production). When I first auditioned for Chicago, I was one among about 900 candidates in Johannesburg alone (auditions were held in Cape Town as well) who fought to be a part of the debut cast of Chicago the Musical's first ever South African production. I was 22 and had never had any vocal training. So I went for a crash course in song preparation and the basics with an SA vocal coach called Kevin Feather, (forever in his debt) and decided to give it a go, never expecting to really be considered. I was blown away and so grateful to be confirmed as part of the cast.

I was chosen as one of the two female swings (covers), which meant that I got to learn all of the cell-block tango characters as well as Kitty (Lucy Liu character from the 2002 film). I was lucky enough to perform 4 out of the 6 ensemble parts: Hunyak (the Hungarian girl), Liz ('I fired two warning shots'), June ('he ran into my knife') and Kitty, whom I played regularly as the girl playing her part happened to be booked off often. I enjoyed playing all of them, but I guess at the time Kitty was my favourite as I knew her track the best ...AND she got to slide down the banister of the large band stand on the stage (closet adrenaline junkie).

The gentleman who taught us the skill was in fact a trainer from Cirque de Soleil and I felt so privileged to have worked with him. Damn, I loved sliding down that banister.
The jist of the Kitty 'slide' moment is this: you climb up a ladder to the top level of the band stand where the band's brass section are seated, you present yourself 'gymnast-like' and then basically (note in an extremely sexy manner) climb onto the side banister to sit with your bum on your leather-gloved hands leaning back slightly and your long legs crossed in front of you. Once settled you slightly release your grip on the banister which allows you to slide all the way down on your hands to the bottom. Once down there is an elaborate side-split/back-bend/sexy-vibes moment that leads into Kitty's scene.

What I found most unnerving was that Ferdinand (now-hubby) was seated in a chair on the side of the stage exactly opposite where I had to do 'sexy-vibes' at the end. (Must have been doing something right *winks*)

Whenever I played Kitty, I had the added benefit of the brass section  (I love those guys!) cheering me on - my unofficial fan club! They would write me notes and hold them up for me to read just before the slide... And I would reciprocate by passing them notes covered in red-lipped kisses and other silly messages... needless to say, there was great expectation in the brass section every time I got to play the part!

Here is a link to a media release on Artslink in Oct 2004 when it all had just become a reality. In those days I was still Diani Joubert (maiden name).
http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=21266

There are so many great stories and memories connected to this musical but I'll leave some to tell you about at a later stage. In 2008, the musical was brought back for a second SA season, which I jumped at. Some parts were recast, but many of the debut cast returned to the piece. In this season I secured the role of June ('he ran into my knife') but was still asked to cover the roles of Kitty and Hunyak. I was thrilled with the arrangement, it was like having the best of both worlds - on stage every night but still able to play multiple characters and my favourites too. My then-hubby was playing Tony Manero (John Travolta) in Saturday Night Fever and so we were 'strutting' our stuff on different stages that time around.

Both those seasons of Chicago are major milestones and incredibly memorable and meaningful to me.
If given the chance, I would take on another production of Chicago in a heartbeat.

Who knows if or when SA will see Chicago again? Never say never...



And 'all the jazz'... x