Showbiz Queenstown takes us into this jaundiced American Dream for its latest production, a full-bodied and full-blooded sexy and cynical satire of celebrity, institutional corruption and the gutter press.
Queenstown ''had it coming'' for a year and the passion of the entire Wakatipu-resident Anglo-Kiwi cast, crew and orchestra is the Razzle Dazzle evident to all in the audience.
Bouquets to the phenomenal talents Nicole McLean, of Arrowtown, and Fiona Stephenson, of Queenstown, who appear in virtually every scene as Velma the vamp and Roxie the wannabe.
They project their complex characters through soaring songs and giddy dance routines and have the audience rooting for those gleefully irredeemable bad girls.
Casting young Robert Wells was a smart move away from the expected portrayal of Billy Flynn, but pays off as the 22-year-old drama graduate takes ownership and turns the slick lawyer into a hungry wunderkind instead of the world-weary silver fox established elsewhere.
David Oakley would have made a fine Flynn, however, the charismatic actor successfully plays against type as Mr Cellophane himself, Roxie's sad-sack husband Amos.
Of course, they can't do it alone, and the support from Rachael Gerard as Mama Morton and K. R. Chuen as Mary Sunshine is pitch perfect.
The 23 singing dancers have glamour to spare and made such signature Chicago sequences as Cell Block Tango and We Both Reached for the Gun truly outstanding, their synchronised moves as tight as their garters.
Director Bryan Aitken, with musical director Emma Wilson and choreographer Anna Stuart, deliver a highly sophisticated production, the equal of any musical staged in Wellington or Auckland.
Stylised reality slips in and out of fantasy with ease, the story is more timely than ever and the sensational show tunes will keep you humming long after you leave the centre.
• Chicago runs in the Queenstown Memorial Hall until Saturday.
