"Roxie Rocks the Tibbits"

Chicago, the musical opens this week.  It is the most requested production in the history of Summer Theatre.  It has a long history on stage and screen.  Former Chicago Tribune reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins (left) took a play-writing course and decided to base her play on two real life murderesses in Chicago who she had reported on.  Both women had gotten off with a false pregnancy defense.  Her play, Chicago, opened on December 30, 1926 with the famed director George Abbott at the helm.  The play ran 172 performances, a very respectable run in the 1920's.  





Roxie Hart, as Watkins named the anti-heroine, was played by Francine Larrimore  (right).  These pictures are from a few years earlier, a play called Nobody's Business.  She appeared in more than 20 Broadway productions, including plays by Noel Coward and S.N. Berhrman.



The play was immediately purchased by Cecil B. de Mille's production company.
The movie, a silent, came out in
1927.  Directing credit is given to Frank Urson, but many believe de Mille himself directed the picture.  Here Roxie is played by Phyllis Haver (left and right).  While a slightly more moral tale than the play, it is not as sanitized as the next time Hollywood used the play....




It took almost twenty years for Hollywood to get back to Chicago.  This time they called it Roxie Hart and she was played by Ginger Rogers.  Here are two posters for the film:

The story is basically the same but the production code was in full effect and it is at times barely recognizable as the same story-- it's worked around to prove Roxie is truly innocent of the murder....









John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse bought the play for a musical and started to refashion the story to give equal weight to the other murderess, Velma.  She is a minor character in all the other versions.  Here are the original "merry murderesses"  Chita Rivera and Gwen Verdon as Velma and Roxie (left).  It opened on June 3, 1975 and ran for 936 performances.  The original poster art is on the right.

Chicago, was revived in 1996.  It is still running on Broadway.  It has racked up 6496 performances.  

 So far.

The very successful movie version was released in 2002.

Don't miss Chicago at the Tibbits--July 12 through July 21, 2012.

                                                                                                                                  Charles Burr

                                                                                                                                  Artistic Director

BUY TICKETS

On Broadway 1956 opens this Thursday June 28th with 8 talented actors, performing pieces from Broadways shows that opened on Broadway in 1956.  This cast includes a few
returning actors to Tibbits and several new faces as well. Two new faces amongst the cast are Tyler Whiteman and James Bleecker. 

Tyler Whiteman (on the right, wearing a green shirt), is originally from St. Louis, MO.  He is entering his Junior year as a BFA Musical Theatre student at Missouri State University in Springfield, MO.  Tyler will also be joining us in the musical Chicago this summer here at Tibbits.

Tyler landed into theatre in a very interesting way.  When attending a community college for a general studies degree, not sure of his career path, several friends of his persuaded him to audition for a show at the college, Footloose.  After being cast in the show, he never looked back, but raced forward in pursuit of a performance degree.  Since then, he has worked for Citilites Theater and Stray Dog Theater in St. Louis, he has performed three summers at Six Flags around the St. Louis area and also performed shows at Missouri Baptist University.  His dream acting role is Jamie in The Last 5 Years, and when asked what his advice would be of people wanting to enter the theatre world, he stated, "It's never too late." 

Another new actor at Tibbits this summer, James Bleecker (pictured above in the blue shirt), is originally from Fort Myers, FL.  He now is entering his Junior year as a BFA Musical Theatre student at Western Illinios University in Macomb, IL.  James will also be seen this summer in Chicago and Funny Money. 

James told me that he took a break before attending college, and believes that his time spent co-founding Harrison Hilltop Theatre in Davenport, IA from 2007-2010, educated him in a way that has now prepared himself much more for college than after leaving high school.  James started performing at age 6, when his mother realized he needed a creative outlet for his talent of impersonating TV personalities and reenacting commercials back to his family. 

Even though this is James' first summer here at Tibbits, he had his first summer stock experience last summer working for Gaslight Theatre in St. Louis.  He was nominated for a Kevin Kline award for his performance that summer in Thrill Me, the Leopold and Loeb Story.  James' dream role is Alan in Equus, which he may have a chance to perform next year.  His advice to aspiring actors is to develop a thick skin, make sure you realize what you want out of life, what kind of theatre you want to do, and go after it. 

It looks like both of these gentleman are doing just that, come see them in person in the On Broadway 1956 review playing for two weeks at Tibbits, opening Thursday, June 28th and closing Saturday, July 7th.