“I went into the show soaked up in the realms of 2021 – and came out as a 1920s all-singing, all-dancing glitzy wannabe,” says reporter Immy Share.
It’s been a while since I last went to the theatre.
I’ve always loved going – don’t get me wrong – but what with lockdowns, and life getting in the way, it wasn’t until I sat down in the Churchill Bromley stalls on Monday night that I realised it was something I had really missed over the past couple of years.
I was sat relatively near the front, and excitement got my friend and I there quite early – so we sat for a while and watched the theatre get fuller and fuller as the 8pm start came close.
‘How did this not happen for so long?’ I found myself thinking, and it became vastly clear that theatre-goers are still aplenty and the chitter chatter, chaos of seat-finding and rustling of sweet bags was quite comforting.
As the curtains drew and Chicago began, I felt no longer in a 2021 stained-world recovering from a health crisis, but instead morphed into a 1920s glitz and guns world of murder, jazz and glamour.
From the beginning, I was gripped.
I had seen Chicago before, the movie, but never in the theatre – and I was amazed.
The singing, the dancing, the costumes, the performance was like nothing I’d seen before.
I barely moved my eyes from the stage, and tried to hold back from bursting into song embarrassingly loudly.
Roxie Hart was played by Corrie favourite Faye Brookes and as an avid cobbles fan, what a treat to be just metres away from Kate Connor.
From the Rovers Return to the razzling-dazzling bright lights of Chicago – Roxie won the heart of the audience with her innocently criminal sexy-self.
Djalenga Scott played Velma phenomenally, Darren Day was a brilliant representation of Billy Flynn and Sinitta Malone made me really want to be good to Mama.
Joel Montague played the poor-old husband whose wife plays around as she pleases perfectly, and I wanted to go and give him a good old hug.
The performance lasted around two-and-a-half hours, including an interval, and I’d be lying if I said I was ready for it to end.
The standing ovation at the end of the show spoke enough words in itself – as did the beams I saw on people’s faces.
Chicago was a feel-good, well-performed, brilliantly presented and hooking show that Churchill theatre in Bromley is lucky to be home to for the next week.
If you can get tickets, go for it – support our local theatre and go cheer on the cast.
You’ll get to see a fantastic show, and if nothing else you'll give yourself a sparkly, well-deserved evening out at the theatre.
...And all that jazz…
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