Johannesburg - This year Redhill’s highly anticipated production is “Chicago The Musical” – a Tony Award-winning show that first premiered on Broadway in 1975.
The musical is set in the Roaring Twenties in Chicago, where the audience is transported back to a time of jazz, flappers, and prohibition.
The story follows two murderesses, Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, who are both on death row and seeking fame and fortune.
They hire the same lawyer, Billy Flynn, who uses his charm and legal skills to manipulate the media and the court system to turn their trials into a media circus.
The original Broadway production opened in 1975 at the 46th Street Theatre and ran for 936 performances, until 1977. Bob Fosse directed and choreographed the original production. “Chicago” has been staged in numerous productions around the world, and has toured extensively in the US and UK. The 2002 film adaptation of the musical won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Redhill director Joseph Gerassi decided to modernise the musical and bring it from the 1920s into the 2020s by incorporating the use of social media.
He said: “To make the content more relevant for a modern-day audience, we have chosen to portray the media frenzy surrounding the trial through social media: Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, instead of the scripted use of radio and newspaper coverage.
Our aim is to portray the enormous power that social media has to influence people and their decisions in the 21st century within the context of this dazzling and unforgettable trial of the century.”
The show has content of an adult nature. As such, parental guidance is advised. Bookings are open on Quicket.