Ciaran Campbell kindly agreed to pen the following review of Chicago at the Grand Opera House for whatsonni. Thanks Ciaran!
Ciaran is a very good fb friend of ours – he is a live entertainment promoter and graphic designer (add him on facebook – Stage Door Entertainment and check out his upcoming events) .
“Chicago in Belfast’s Grand Opera House was simply outstanding. Sassy, classy and sexy are the words best used to describe it. One young performer Twinnie Lee-Moore from London easily stood out as her vocal and dancing capabilities were amazing – not bad for a 22 year old playing Velma Kelly.
Gary Wilmot & Emma Barton (Honey – Eastenders) were the headliners in this cast as smooth-talking lawyer Billy Flynn while Emma played murderess Roxie Hart. Unfortunatley I attended a matinee and didn’t get to see Emma perform but her Understudy Miriam-Eli Sutton was more than capable of stepping up to belt out me and my baby, we both reached for the gun and much more.
Gary Wilmots voice had a superb tone and quality and simply a pleasure to listen to particularly during All I Care About.
Over all a fantastic show and I’m glad I caught it while I was in town – the entr’acte in 2nd act was a pleasant surprise – a melody of all the Chicago songs that got me in a lively mood. Well worth the money. Hats off to the production team on this one as they’ve done the best possible job they could do to make this as true to the original production as possible, yet not creating a cover version.
The re-creation of Bob Fosse’s original choreography was a joy to watch. Chicago is currently in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre”
Ciaran Campell