MURDER, adultery, corruption and celebrity - it’s all in hit musical Chicago.
The popular show is heading for Bradford’s Alhambra Theatre next month - starring Strictly Come Dancing champion Kevin Clifton and Coronation Street’s Faye Brooks.
Set in the razzle-dazzle 1920s, Chicago is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife who murders her lover when he threatens to leave her.
Desperate to avoid conviction, and the hangman, Roxie dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago’s slickest lawyer, Billy Flynn, to transform her crime into a barrage of sensational headlines. Suddenly Roxie is an overnight star, but celebrity is a fickle business in Chicago.
Created by the musical theatre talents of John Kander, Fred Ebb and legendary choreographer Bob Fosse, Chicago features a sassy score that includes show-stoppers Razzle Dazzle, Cell Block Tango and All That Jazz.
Winner of six Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards and a Grammy, it's the longest-running American musical in Broadway and West End history.
Kevin Clifton, who steps into the shows of smooth-talking Billy Flynn, shot to fame as a professional dancer on BBC hit Strictly Come Dancing, competing in seven series and five finals. He won the show in 2018 with partner Stacey Dooley.
In recent years Kevin has carved a successful musical theatre career and was recently at the Alhambra playing Loco Chanelle in UK tour of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. His other theatre credits include Scott Hastings in Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom, Singin’ in the Rain at Sadler’s Wells and on tour, Rock Of Ages, Jeff Wayne’s The War Of The Worlds and Burn the Floor, making his Broadway debut as a principal dancer.
Stage and soap star Faye Brookes returns as Roxie Hart, the role she played in Chicago at the Alhambra in 2021.
Faye is best known as Kate Connor in Coronation Street, for which she won a National Television Award. Her theatre credits include Princess Fiona in Shrek, Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, The Sound of Music and That Day We Sang directed by Victoria Wood. Faye was runner up on ITV’s Dancing On Ice in 2021.
Joining Kevin and Faye in Chicago are West End star Djalenga Scott playing scheming jailbird Velma Kelly, Joshua Lloyd as Roxie's downtrodden husband Amos Hart and Jordan Lee Davies as showbusiness reporter Mary Sunshine.
* Chicago is at the Alhambra from October 21-26. For tickets call (01274) 432000 or visit bradford-theatres.co.uk
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