"Chicago" premieres at IU

Sometimes getting away with murder depends on the culprit’s charm.

The Wells-Metz Theatre transformed into “Chicago” this weekend, where 1920s’ murderesses wooed the jail warden, the jury and the audience.

Tickets for the show sold out two weeks before opening night.

Complete with heavy perfume and fog wafting through the air, the preview performance Thursday was different than ones staged in the past because of the small space.

“The intimacy makes it incredible,” said Kathy Aiken, an IU Theater season subscriber of several years. “This is way better than the one we saw at the auditorium.”

The cast of 26 weaved between audience members and sat in their laps, fanning them with feathers.

“The small stage really lets us interact with the crowd,” said Colin Schreier, a senior who played the infamous lawyer, Billy Flynn.

The play, based on a true story, is the oldest American musical in Broadway history.
Director George Pinney said his actors are plenty good enough to fill the role.

“It’s a professional program, and they know what they’re doing,” he said.

Almost half the cast were underclassmen, but Aiken said it was impossible to tell.
“They’re young, but they’re the best at what they do,” she said.

Aiken is an IU graduate. She and her husband have been coming to see every theater performance the school puts on.

Having just retired, Aiken has traveled all over the country in recent months, but she said she made sure she was here for “Chicago.”

“In New York, we can see it for $200, which we’re willing to pay,” her husband, Charles Aiken, said. “But we can see it here for much cheaper.”

Aiken blocked her traveling schedule around the performance but learned too late that tickets had sold out.

“I was so disappointed, because this is not something you’d want to miss,” she said.
She was invited to Thursday’s performance the day of.

But for some actors, it was a big night for their careers.

“It was the most exhilarating experience of my life,” Assistant Stage Manager London Borom said after the show.

The homicidal adulteress Roxie Hart was played by Kayla Eilers, a sophomore theater student.

Her first lead role, she said keeping up with Roxie was a challenge.

“She’s so fast paced and intense,” she said. “I kept a journal every day just to practice the character.”

She said she’s craved to play Roxie for years.

“It was my dream role, my dream show,” Eilers said.

But getting the characters down to a tee wasn’t the only hard part. The dance routine proved to be especially difficult, Schreier said.

“George has most of the cast on the stage for about 75 percent of the time,” he said, wiping eyeliner from under his eye. “Stamina is so important. It’s really hard to keep going.”

Despite the more than two hours of run time, he said traveling up and down the runway-shaped stage was his favorite part.

Pinney said they all owned the stage as much as they could.

“I couldn’t be prouder,” he said. “It couldn’t have turned out better.”

Follow reporter Ashley Jenkins on Twitter @ashmorganj.