‘Chicago’ Arrives at Harvard with Tradition and Twists

“Chicago” holds the record for the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. And this weekend, Harvard students are bringing the musical theater classic to life. Produced by Abigail G. Sage ’21, Eric J. Cheng ’20, and Katherine Hess ’20 of the Harvard College Musical Theater, “Chicago” opens on Oct. 19 at the Loeb Drama Center Mainstage.

The show traces the life of two very different vaudevillian women, Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, who find themselves under similar circumstances having been arrested for murder and are placed in Chicago’s Cook County Jail in the 1920s. For Annabel O’Hagan ’19, who stars as the principal character of Roxie Hart, “Chicago” holds a special place in her heart — it is the musical that she said made her fall in love with theater.

“I played Roxie as a sophomore in high school and she was my introduction into musical theater in a sense where I got a lot more control. It was my first time playing a big lead,” O’Hagan said. “And it’s so much fun because she’s so different from me. She’s so feisty and big and bold all the time, and to be able to inhabit that for a couple of hours on stage is just really freeing.”

O’Hagan calls Roxie a “wannabe,” and said the one word she would use to describe Roxie is “hungry.”

“[Roxie] wants to climb to the top and she’s willing to do anything to get there. She has that star-to-be mentality that when she gets to the top, she can’t get enough of it,” O’Hagan said.

Ashley M. Lalonde ’20 will star opposite O’Hagan in Roxie’s counterpart and competition, Velma Kelly.

“Velma Kelly is a super sexy old-time star of Vaudeville, so she’s kind of the epitome of a super star in the 1920s,” Lalonde said. “She’s a little bit older and she knows who she is, but she gets into a lot of trouble.”

Director Ruan Kapur '20, who said his background is primarily in dance, said this was an ideal first show for him to direct because of the heavy role that dance plays in the musical. The show only features Kapur’s choreography, though he said it was heavily influenced by Bob Fosse, especially in iconic numbers such as “All That Jazz,” “Me and My Baby,” and “Razzle Dazzle.”

“[Fosse]’s choreography is kind of infused in a few places,” Kapur said. “The whole thing is definitely inspired by him, and every so often, there’s his exact touches in there.”

Other than the choreography, Harvard College Musical Theater preserved the essence of many other aspects of “Chicago.” Jennifer Kunes ’19, who serves as stage manager of the production, said the costumes and sets were designed with the original production in mind. Although Kapur said he stayed mostly true to the original show, he made one key casting difference — instead of casting a man in drag for the role of Mary Sunshine, Kapur cast a woman. Mary Sunshine, the reporter for both Roxie and Velma’s trials, is usually seen as a “big joke,” according to Kapur. Her introductory number in the first act, “A Little Bit of Good,” alludes to the nature of Mary Sunshine’s character — positive, hopeful, and trying to see the best part of everyone.

“The way it’s framed in the production is that the characters decide that she’s going to be easy to manipulate because she believes in the good in people,” Kapur said. “So instead of making that something that’s very inauthentic, I wanted to see what it would be like if we actually had a woman portray that role in a more authentic way upfront, so that the audience is seeing this character — that other people are saying is dumb and easy to manipulate — but the character is being authentic about the fact that she tries to see the good in everybody.”

Kapur said he hopes the audience will consider her position as a character more seriously.

“Why are we making fun of this character, when really this is how it should be?” Kapur said, referring to how Mary Sunshine sees the “little bit of good” in everybody. “You know, maybe she’s not getting it wrong.”

With less than a month between casting announcements and the first show, O’Hagan said the rehearsal process has been a “whirlwind.” Despite the tight schedule, O’Hagan said she found the classical musical theater aspect of “Chicago” made it relatively easy to pick up. Kapur and Kunes also both said the timeline has been a challenge.

“Chicago” will run this and next weekend: Oct. 19 and Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 21 at 2:00 p.m., Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m., and Oct. 27 at 2:00 pm.

—Staff writer Lucy Wang can be reached at lucy.wang@thecrimson.com.