The following was posted on Michael Hurst’s Official Site about the upcoming production of Chicago The Musical in Auckland from 1-24 November 2013. To catch up on all the news about the show, visit the AUSXIP Lucy Lawless Chicago The Musical Subsite
Directing Chicago, 1-24 November 2013 at Q Theatre
Michael will direct the Kander, Ebb & Fosse musical for Auckland Theatre Company, featuring Amanda Billing, Lucy Lawless,Shane Cortese, Colleen Davis, Andrew Grainger, and Sandra Rasmussen, with Will Barling, Stephen Butterworth, Mike Edward, Rebekkah Schoonbeek, Sia Trokenheim, Hannah Tasker-Poland, and Lavinia Uhila; choreography by Shona McCullagh, musical direction by John Gibson,set design by John Harding, and costume design by Leslie Burkes-Harding, and lighting design by Sean Lynch.
1920's Chicago. Cook County Jail is home to a bawdy band of murderesses, all of whom have eradicated their quickly insignificant others. Chanteuses Velma Kelly (Lucy Lawless) and Roxie Hart (Amanda Billing) have both acquired a spot on Death Row. Velma enlists the help of prison matron Mama Morton (Colleen Davis) and smooth-talking lawyer Billy Flynn (Shane Cortese) to turn her incarceration into a media frenzy.
But, not one to rest on her laurels, Roxie comes up with a foxy plan to steal back the limelight and, instead of wrangling the law, the two divas find themselves fighting the ultimate battle - the race to superstardom.
Of the production, director Michael Hurst says, "The thing about Chicago is that underneath all the jazz and the fizz is the pulsing, wild, abandoned and desperate beating heart of a corrupt and exploitative society. It's a dark, sexy and vicious tale, propelled by extraordinary music - the rhythms of murder and corruption; the rhythms of lust. It's a revelatory tale of the transience of celebrity. And it's fabulous".