Chicago Comes To Chennai
I do like musicals. See. There, I said it. And I don’t care 
(actually, I do care a little bit, so please don’t judge me!). There was a time when I could recite every word from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (except the boring love song in the middle of course). I think one of the first musicals I was taken to see was Star Light Express down in London.
I remember how myself and my younger brother and sister were decidely unimpressed with our parents for forcing us to go and watch such a thing. A trip to London was supposed to be a fun thing, we could have done something really exciting and gone to the science museum! But no, we went to see people on roller skates and boy did we let our displeasure be known!
Since that time (last year 
), I’m pleased to say I’ve grown up a little and do love a good musical. Having lived in London for close to six years, I got to see quite a few, but not as many as I probably would have liked.
I’m scratching around my head to try and recall all the shows I’ve been too, which is no easy feat when your head is so fuzzy from a hangover and complete lack of sleep.
So here goes…Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Blues Brothers, We Will Rock You, Chicago, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (I still knew all the words), Mama Mia, oh, and let us not forget the magic of Star Light Express
Chicago is the story of illicit affairs, murder, booze, corruption and violence. It’s sexy, raunchy and suggestive.
Chennai is a city of strong morals, family values and could be considered one of the most conservative cities in and already conservative country. With the obvious exception of corruption, it’s worlds away from the Chicago musical, so you can imagine my surprise when I heard that they were going to stage the play here – there was no way I could miss it!
In the West End, the characters are clad in revealing lingerie throughout the entire show, I was really keen to find out how they were going to handle it in front of a more conservative audience.
First off, this was an Am-Dram production, people, mostly college students, giving up their free time to practice for three months, so I really can’t compare it to the West End version.
Naturally they cut a lot of the more raunchy stuff from the story line, although I was a little bit surprised when a bed appeared on the stage!
The cast started off pretty nervously, hardly surprising considering there were probably around 1,000 people in the auditorium (which was really nice and even had reclining seats!). A friend who was with me felt that they didn’t quite have the stage presence, but I think that was also combined with poor acoustics towards the back of the theatre – it was sometimes quite hard to hear what the actors were saying.
The director swapped suggestive lingerie for more appropriate dresses and skirts. The actors swapped Indian accents for a mixture of Indian and American – some actors did fairly well, some should have stuck with their Indian accents
After the interval, I think the cast really settled in to the show, because the performances were markedly improved, there seemed to be a lot more confidence, although they still looked a little bit uncomfortable dancing along to the jazz songs.
One area which I felt let the show down a bit was the stage. They had built up a multi-level wooden stage and it creaked and groaned as actors walked across it and it was fairly distracting hearing all the foot scuffing noises as the cast danced and sung their way through the numbers.
All in all, it was a fairly good amateur production, if they had some commanding leads it could have been improved, and I’m sure if the budget allowed they would have improved the stage area. But the singing was good, the dancing was enjoyable to watch and the acting was reasonable. It was £4 very well spent 
LikeRelated posts:
- Tips For Getting a Tuk-TUk in Chennai
- Weekends in Chennai
- Photos and Videos From Chennai
- An Englishman in Chennai, India
- Chennai Traffic Rules
4 Responses 
Leave a Reply 
Wow! You found my little website, I'm truly honoured to have you here. Let me show you around before you make yourself at home. If you want to get an insight in to the inner workings of my mind, I suggest you start on my blog. If you are a stalker, find out more about me and if you are a web junkie, come and see my favourite websites. 
Now adding theatre critic to your list of skills? And dad wants to know what you have spent 30,000 rupees on?
“With the obvious exception of corruption, it’s worlds away from the Chicago musical:
- ahem, I resent that! just because we don’t celebrate “illicit affairs, murder, booze, corruption and violence” doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Lol, case in point: the previous cook at our house ran away with the security guard.
That said, I was pretty astonished too. This is Chennai, after all.
@Mother: I spent it on sensible things like stuff for the kitchen, bed sheets and work clothes…Despite what you may read about in future blog posts, I definitely did not put my phone in the washing machine. Again.
@Ashwitha: That is so cool! And kinda cliche at the same time. Cook running off with XYZ.
You haven’t seen Blood Brothers? If you get the chance, go. It’s astounding.