INTERVIEW: Charlotte d’Amboise on the enduring legacy of ‘Chicago the Musical’
Photo: Two-time Tony nominee Charlotte d’Amboise stars as Roxie Hart in Chicago the Musical. She is joined by Ryan Worsing (left) and Michael Cusumano (right). Photo courtesy of Jeremy Daniel / Provided by BBB with permission.
Chicago the Musical, the longest-running American musical in Broadway history, continues to attract theatergoers — both first-timers and repeat customers — to the Ambassador Theatre night after night. The John Kander and Fred Ebb show — featuring original direction and choreography by Bob Fosse, new direction by Walter Bobbie and new choreography by Ann Reinking — exudes sex appeal, independence, murderous intent and stylized attitude.
At this point, the posters that highlight Chicago around New York City are as iconic as the Rockefeller Christmas tree. For more than two decades, they promise prospective ticket buyers a sinful night and a get-out-of-jail-free card. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken them up on the offer.
For those who have not jumped on the murderous bandwagon, Chicago is a musical that follows the adventures of Velma Kelly, a singer who has recently killed her husband, and Roxie Hart, another woman on trial for murder. Their smart-talking lawyer is Billy Flynn, and he is determined to get them both off by essentially making them celebrities in the local press.
The show expertly utilizes Fosse and Reinking’s choreography, and the dance vocabulary is both memorable and came to define a look and feel for musical theater. The arms of the dancers either sway back and forth, arched at just the right angle, or they ascend into the air for those characteristic “jazz hands.” While this is happening, the hips swivel in collective unity, and the shoulders shrug back in defiance. It’s a full-body technical immersion.
The choreographic work is on display is such high-profile numbers as “All That Jazz,” “Cell Block Tango,” “Razzle Dazzle,” “My Own Best Friend” and “Me and My Baby.”
Charlotte d’Amboise has been at the center of the Broadway musical on and off for the past 21 years. She is currently playing the role of Roxie and continues as the character until Jan. 5. It’s a role she has revisited several times, and she still loves playing the woman who rocks Chicago to its core.
“It’s really great because I have just gone in and out of it for years now, and it’s a role that you can constantly keep growing in,” d’Amboise said in a recent phone interview. “It never gets old. You can grow into it. It’s awesome. I have a great time, and it’s a great show.”
d’Amboise, nominated for a Tony Award for both A Chorus Line and Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, likes to play the role of Roxie as an innocent. In many ways, the actor sees Roxie as a narcissist, but the character is unaware of her own narcissism.
“She doesn’t mean to be mean,” she said. “She’s not calculating, like Velma is calculating. She’s more in the moment reacting to save herself, so there’s an innocence in a way, too. She does love. She does charm. She does fall in love with people and get her heart broken, but she’s a survivor.”
When d’Amboise first took over the role 21 years ago, she was the youngest actor at the time to portray Roxie. Historically the part has been played by older performers, and there are a few lines within the musical that speak to those years of lived experience.
“This part, I think now they realize, can be played by all different ages, and it still works,” d’Amboise said. “But it was originally written for somebody in her 50s because Gwen [Verdon] did it when she was in her 50s, and there’s a line in the show, ‘I’m older than I ever intended to be.’ And I remember I was cast when I was 30. I looked like 25, and I remember I could never find that line. I could never make it work, and I knew that it worked. I remember Ann Reinking doing it, and it was the best line in the whole show. I just can’t make this work, and now I feel like I can really make it work because I’m older. I’m like, oh, I get it now.”
Part of the reason Chicago continues to entertain audiences in Midtown Manhattan is because each performer who plays Roxie, Velma or Billy — and there have been many performers over the years — can bring their own personality to the role. d’Amboise believes this has led to many unique interpretations.
“I have to say over the years that’s part of the reason why I think this show has been so successful is because [director] Walter [Bobbie] and Annie have allowed so many different people to come in and play these roles,” she said. “The more that you bring yourself, your true self to these parts, the better, and they can be played so differently. That’s what’s so cool about them. You can have a different Roxie. You can have an innocent, wide-eyed Roxie, or you can have a harder Roxie that’s a little older and maturer. It all works, as long as it’s coming from a place that’s you. People want to see you. That’s what’s so great about this part and the show. It’s about the people, not about the scenery.”
The chance to re-create Fosse’s choreography was certainly an attraction for d’Amboise, a career dancer who has appeared on Broadway in Damn Yankees, Sweet Charity, Pippin, Cats and Company, among other shows.
“Dancing is the love of my life,” she said. “It’s all heightened with vaudeville style [in Chicago], so to be able to incorporate the dance and the acting and the singing and it all being one thing is cathartic for me. It’s exactly what I want to do. I never just wanted to dance. I never just wanted to sing or act. I love it all, and to be able to do all three and tell a story is just so fulfilling for me. That part of it is what makes it so special I think and also hard to cast. You need to find people who can do it and also have the style of the time and the vaudeville. You have to have a certain kind of style, I think. I trained my whole life for that. I trained my whole life for this kind of a role, and I get to do it. It’s great.”
For d’Amboise, the Fosse style is extremely distinct. She considers the vocabulary to be “ballet, but turned in.” This was an adjustment for her because she was classically trained in traditional ballet, but because of the success of Chicago, the style has become commonplace and imitated by others. The choreography is everywhere: from the TV show Fosse/Verdon to the cinematic adaptation of Chicago.
“Nowadays I have to say Fosse is kind of incorporated into so much because his style has been around for a while,” d’Amboise said. “It sort of meshed into other styles of dance, so other shows might have a hint of it in choreography because it’s meshed into everything now. It is very distinct, and it takes a minute to figure it out. Some people can do it better than others. It’s really a feel. I’ve been doing it for so long. … And I don’t have Fosse looking down at me going, ‘Your pinky is not in the right spot.’”
The many messages of Chicago have not become dated. If anything, the themes of criminality, female independence, celebrity, sex, domestic violence and sensationalism are still applicable to society in 2019.
“It is interesting because I started the show 21 years ago, and I remember it was after the O.J. [Simpson] trial, right around that time,” d’Amboise said. “I just remember we were always like, ‘It’s just like today and exactly what’s happening right now,’ and it is incredible it just keeps going. … When it was originally done, when Fosse originally did the show, I don’t think America was ready for that cynicism. I don’t think people were aware of the corruption. People still had this view of America, and they weren’t ready to be cynical. Now people are because it’s right in your face every day on television, so, yes, I think that’s why the show keeps running. It’s relevant to all the issues of today.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Chicago the Musical, featuring Charlotte d’Amboise, is currently playing the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway. Click here for more information and tickets.
