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Exclusive Interview: Cast and Director of Pontiac Theatre IV's 'Chicago' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome everybody, how are we doing today?
• 0:03
  Good, how are you?
• 0:05
  We're excited to talk about Pontiac Four Theaters production of Chicago.
• 0:09
  And you guys just got out of your sitzprobe Tina, how did that go?
• 0:13
  I actually was not there.
• 0:15
  I'm assuming I've heard good things that it went well.
• 0:18
  I've been working on set build all day.
• 0:21
  You know what, Collin said that beforehand and it did not click in that those two things were overlapping each other.
• 0:26
  So I apologize.
• 0:30
  Collin how did it go then?
• 0:31
  It went really good.
• 0:32
  uh It was a really good time.
• 0:35
  I love that moment when we finally get to work with the band because you get to hear all the different pieces really click in with everyone's voices.
• 0:42
  And Analisa, what is that like?
• 0:43
  That sounds like it.
• 0:44
  That's pretty cool.
• 0:44
  Finally getting that big moment of everything coming together.
• 0:47
  Yeah, it's really fun, especially for this show because it's definitely like a vaudeville jazz band musical.
• 0:53
  So we had trumpets with the mutes and multiple woodwinds.
• 0:58
  Drums obviously make a huge difference in electric guitar.
• 1:01
  So um adds a lot more than just just the piano, which is what we've been having mostly.
• 1:05
  So yeah, it was awesome.
• 1:08
  How big of an orchestra do you guys have?
• 1:11
  I think we have six pieces.
• 1:12
  um Our music director, Kayvon's playing piano as well.
• 1:16
  But what's interesting, if people don't know about a lot of pit orchestras, our woodwind person, I think she was playing clarinet, flute, piccolo, saxophone, and I think she was
• 1:27
  gonna grab a bass clarinet if she could get her hands on it too.
• 1:29
  So a lot of those six musicians will be playing multiple things.
• 1:34
  That is quite impressive.
• 1:36
  I haven't played instruments since high school, but the thing that you could just switch like that as you're going through the show as needed is quite impressive.
• 1:44
  At one point she transposed like a part in her head because she needed to put it in a different instrument.
• 1:49
  it was awesome to watch them work.
• 1:52
  So Tina, I had admitted before we got on to recording that I actually, for as long as I've been doing this, I've never seen a production of Chicago.
• 1:58
  I've never even seen the movie, which is shocking as well.
• 2:02
  So what's the story of what's going on in this show?
• 2:06
  The story is, I mean, it's two women mostly.
• 2:11
  I mean, it's about a lot of women, but a lot of women from the 1920s.
• 2:14
  It's actually a true story or based on a true story.
• 2:19
  did some deep diving on that on two women that had murdered either their husband or their boyfriend at the time.
• 2:27
  It was written by actually a journalist back in the time that used to cover trials.
• 2:33
  So that's pretty cool.
• 2:36
  That is really cool.
• 2:37
  I didn't realize that it was based on a true story that adds quite another layer to that.
• 2:42
  Yep, I did not know that up until recently.
• 2:45
  And Collin, you are playing Billy in this production.
• 2:50
  Who is Billy and how do they factor into the narrative of the show?
• 2:54
  Billy Flynn is this world famous lawyer in this world and um he's a world famous lawyer to get women off of death row.
• 3:03
  um So throughout the show everybody's just talking we want Billy like Billy Flynn is our guy we need Billy so um he gets hired um through the jail to usually take on these cases
• 3:19
  but the stipulation is Billy's very expensive.
• 3:23
  It's $5,000 if you want Billy.
• 3:25
  So then that becomes a whole stir thing as well.
• 3:28
  Wow, which is a lot of money back because this show takes place when?
• 3:33
  Yeah, so it's a lot of money to get Billy.
• 3:37
  Yes, but all he cares about is love.
• 3:39
  He's not in it for the money.
• 3:40
  He just cares about doing the love of defending these women.
• 3:46
  Okay, so there's a lot of passion in this for- for really-
• 3:48
  Thank you.
• 3:50
  How have you kind of developed your character within the confines of this musical?
• 3:56
  it's, very different.
• 3:57
  This is like a very different character than I've ever played before.
• 4:00
  Um, because at times it's, it's a very serious, it's mainly, it's very, it's very joking.
• 4:06
  Like Billy's very like, yeah.
• 4:09
  Like he says all he cares about is love and getting these defending these women, but he's really in it only for the money and the publicity and to get his name bigger than it
• 4:19
  already is.
• 4:20
  Um,
• 4:21
  So it's very fun to play a character like that, because usually in the past I've played like princes and like supporting leads.
• 4:31
  So to play like a character like this is a lot of fun.
• 4:35
  It sounds like he's a very flawed character.
• 4:38
  Yes, very.
• 4:39
  m
• 4:41
  And Analisa you're playing Roxie which is like the big one for the show.
• 4:45
  Like that's the name everybody kind of knows for Chicago.
• 4:49
  Who is Roxie to you and what is her journey through Chicago?
• 4:53
  Ooh, well, like you said, I mean, she's, yeah, she's a big character of the show.
• 4:58
  You're mainly following her storyline from beginning, so beginning, spoilers, but the murder, um to the end, and we won't give away the end, I guess.
• 5:07
  For those that haven't seen Chicago by now, I don't know how you've managed that, but.
• 5:14
  It's okay.
• 5:15
  So to me, like, Roxie is a quintessential musical theater jazz character.
• 5:21
  She's somebody that.
• 5:22
  I mean, I used to sing her name, title, number, like in my kitchen growing up when I was like 12.
• 5:27
  ah So this has been a really, really fun character to work with and portray.
• 5:32
  To me, she's very much an anti-hero.
• 5:34
  em I'm intentionally giving her a lot of that angle where, you know, you're supposed to like her in theory because she's one of the protagonists, but obviously all the characters
• 5:44
  in this show are definitely murderers.
• 5:47
  So you kind of hate to love or love to hate her.
• 5:51
  um
• 5:52
  I play her with lot of humor and sarcasm, um but glimpses of heart, mostly just a lot of pretty poison though.
• 6:02
  You know, of all the songs, unfortunately, I'm gonna be this person.
• 6:06
  did, I've watched all of Glee, so I know like, ah you know, I forget the name of but like he had it coming.
• 6:12
  It's kind of, yeah.
• 6:15
  Where they do, they all kind of have reasons.
• 6:17
  It seemed like everyone that's in the prison has reasons to be like, they deserved it and we're not actually that bad.
• 6:23
  So it's kind of, it's kind of what lining up what you're saying about Roxie.
• 6:25
  Well, one of the characters, um the uh Hungarian character, uh I mean, her storyline is that she was pretty clearly framed.
• 6:35
  there could be some interpretation on whether all these women are truly innocent or guilty.
• 6:40
  But it was a time when women were not believed, and they were easy targets to frame for murder or other crimes.
• 6:45
  So who's to say?
• 6:47
  I mean, you see me kill somebody pretty quickly.
• 6:49
  So there's not a lot of debate on mine.
• 6:53
  But the other ones could be up for debate.
• 6:55
  Some of those things though, too, if you think about it, it's not always about debating if it happened, but debating what the cause of it was.
• 7:03
  Like you said, wasn't a lot of wiggle room back then.
• 7:07
  Depending on who you ask today, there's still not a lot of wiggle room for women in the judicial system.
• 7:12
  Yeah, there's no DNA testing or things like that.
• 7:15
  So in the Hungarian prisoner's case, I think her neighbor or something frames her and a dude reports to uh the officials that this lady killed him and they're going to believe
• 7:26
  him right away.
• 7:27
  They're not going to test anything or find a murder weapon or anything.
• 7:31
  And one of things I love about both Billy and Roxie is that seeing that they're flawed characters, there's also the potential then that they are, or anybody in the show really,
• 7:37
  are unreliable narrators.
• 7:39
  Like, who's to tell who's actually being truthful and honest and has integrity with the story?
• 7:45
  Totally.
• 7:45
  So Tina, what drew you to wanting to direct the show?
• 7:47
  It sounds like it's a very layered show.
• 7:49
  There's a lot going on here, but what was it for you?
• 7:51
  To direct it, I fell in love with this show back when I was in school and first saw it.
• 8:00
  I shouldn't say this, but I was never into theater or Broadway or anything like that.
• 8:06
  I watched Chicago and I absolutely like could not get enough of it.
• 8:10
  I have played it for my kids.
• 8:11
  They've watched it growing up.
• 8:13
  Like when our theater got the rights to do Chicago, I...
• 8:18
  I had to do it.
• 8:19
  Like, I just have such a passion for this show.
• 8:22
  There are so many layers, so many different storylines to it.
• 8:25
  It's just a fantastic show.
• 8:28
  What was it about, even back when you said you first watched it, that really made you kind of fall in love with musicals or theater?
• 8:35
  What was it about that story that really drew you in?
• 8:38
  It's all the complexities of everybody's stories.
• 8:41
  It shows human nature and how different everyone is and how some people can come together.
• 8:47
  And even in the weirdest of situations or unnatural situations, I guess they would be.
• 8:53
  It's hard not to love it.
• 8:58
  There's so many different things and complexities, like you said, that go into it.
• 9:02
  mean, even in the courtroom, it's from where I work and what I do for a living, it is
• 9:07
  It is very much a circus.
• 9:09
  It's a lot of moving parts constantly and it's, it's just very appealing.
• 9:14
  One of the things about, know, my day job is a psychologist, you know, so getting to see a story like this, it's interesting because there is, flawed people are more interesting to
• 9:26
  kind of follow and to be able to see what's gonna happen because it really just shows that human nature is not everybody's perfect.
• 9:32
  Nobody's actually perfect.
• 9:33
  Very true.
• 9:35
  Collin, what drew you to wine to audition for the show?
• 9:39
  Um, so to be a hundred percent honest, I before auditioning had never seen Chicago either.
• 9:45
  knew nothing about the show.
• 9:47
  Um, so I guess the, obviously like I knew cell block tango, like I knew the music.
• 9:55
  I just was not familiar with the story.
• 9:57
  And, um, again, going back to like how I portray my character, it is a character I've never been able to, um, portray before.
• 10:05
  So that was very alluring to me.
• 10:08
  um So when I heard that they were doing Chicago, I was like, I want to audition.
• 10:13
  I want to be able to be that guy to be able to put on, to give the razzle dazzle in that sense.
• 10:20
  Are you bringing the razzle dazzle?
• 10:25
  How about you, Annalisa?
• 10:26
  What was like, OK, it sounds like you've known this show for a while.
• 10:30
  um When they announced it, did Roxie feel like this, like, have to be Roxie?
• 10:36
  Um, well, I mean, you never know what so in community theater, you never know what the ages are going to be like and how it's going to get cast.
• 10:42
  So yeah, when there's a dream role like this, I just, show up and give it my all and see what happens.
• 10:48
  Um, but no, it was one that it's, works out cause I knew the music so well growing up with it.
• 10:53
  And yeah, like I said, I mean, just knowing it probably for going on 20 years now or something.
• 10:59
  So.
• 10:59
  my friends and I used to choreograph cell block tango in our parents' basement.
• 11:03
  Like this is stuff that I've been around for a really long time.
• 11:06
  um, definitely wanted to go after it, um, and give it a shot.
• 11:10
  Roxie's always been, yeah, the, awesome fun part that I thought would be really, really, really cool.
• 11:15
  Um, I was surprised when we got into rehearsals at how low a voice part Roxie actually is, cause she kind of gives soprano energy, even though she's not.
• 11:23
  So, um, but no, it's, it's been really fun to work on and yeah, had to, had to go for it.
• 11:29
  I mean, when a role comes around like this, you had mentioned before we started recording that, um you don't usually see a lot of local productions get Chicago.
• 11:37
  And so when that kind of falls into your lap, you have to take that opportunity.
• 11:40
  Gotta try, let them say no.
• 11:42
  Can't say no to yourself.
• 11:44
  That's the appropriate energy.
• 11:46
  uh What songs or performances for you in Analisa seem to be like the ones that you just love performing, but also maybe the ones that you just like, you're not part of, but you
• 11:58
  just love to hear every time they're getting played.
• 12:02
  Yeah, I mean, so the only trade off with Roxie is that she's not in cell block tango.
• 12:09
  But I get, it's brutal, but it's okay.
• 12:11
  I get the distinct pleasure of like getting to watch it from the outside and um the girls have been working so hard at that number.
• 12:18
  It's really challenging, like vocally, the choreography is very complex.
• 12:23
  and then they obviously have the monologues going throughout the entire number.
• 12:26
  So.
• 12:27
  That's been really fun to watch and see come together from the beginning.
• 12:31
  And then my favorite number, probably Roxie.
• 12:36
  I mean, it's hard to be.
• 12:38
  We just get to be obnoxious and, you know, a little, just a little selfish in that number.
• 12:45
  But no, it's a lot of fun to do with the rest of the ensemble.
• 12:50
  Where does Roxie kind of fall in the show?
• 12:52
  Is it like an earlier song?
• 12:53
  Is it later?
• 12:53
  Like what's kind of going around with that?
• 12:55
  Uh, it's pretty smack dab in the middle.
• 12:58
  Uh, maybe a little bit.
• 13:00
  You know, it's maybe two thirds of the way through act one.
• 13:03
  So it's not, at the end by any means.
• 13:05
  cause she definitely has a very distinct like rise and fall.
• 13:08
  So it's definitely the peak of Roxie's kind of, I don't even know, delusion maybe.
• 13:15
  you
• 13:16
  I appreciate the dance that you're doing to like not spoil it but also to...
• 13:20
  I know.
• 13:20
  Well, I didn't think I'd need to, but apparently more people haven't seen Chicago than I thought.
• 13:26
  Which, but you know what's interesting about that is that this is a musical that's kind of stood the test of time.
• 13:29
  I mean, it's the longest running Broadway musical right now.
• 13:32
  Like it's been around forever.
• 13:34
  So maybe I'm just the odd man out here.
• 13:37
  .
• 13:37
  but I mean, lot of, no, I've been surprised talking to folks and people that, even what I work with, I always, and you we obviously want to publicize the show and plenty of people
• 13:46
  have not heard about it.
• 13:47
  I mean, if you're not in the theater world, this might be like the Superbowl of theater, but for other people, like, I don't really like football that much, so I couldn't tell
• 13:55
  you, right?
• 13:57
  Collin, what songs are your favorite from this show?
• 14:00
  Undoubtedly, we both reach for the gun.
• 14:02
  ah That song is just, it's so, it's fast paced.
• 14:06
  There's parts where it's slow.
• 14:08
  There's so many layers to that song.
• 14:10
  And it's like the context behind it as well.
• 14:14
  Like I, my character, I sing that song and I, it's me and Roxie and I'm telling Roxie like, I'm going to tell you everything to say.
• 14:22
  You're going to be a dummy basically.
• 14:24
  Like it's a ventriloquist act.
• 14:26
  and we're telling all these reporters like this is what happened we want you to believe us and everyone believes us.
• 14:34
  of awesome.
• 14:35
  That seems like a really cool piece.
• 14:37
  really sick song.
• 14:38
  The not spoiler is that it's my story, but I don't do any singing in that song.
• 14:42
  Yeah.
• 14:43
  I think it goes back to very telling of that time too though.
• 14:46
  You
• 14:48
  So Tina, what song, you're the director, you get to kind of see it all play out and stuff.
• 14:52
  What is your favorite song?
• 14:54
  Honestly, I think that we both reach for the gun is also my favorite song.
• 14:59
  Oddly enough, because I would have said cell block many years ago just because it's of what it is, but watching it and hearing it, like there are so many fantastic people in
• 15:11
  this show, but Collin's voice is just amazing and perfect for this song.
• 15:18
  Like he really, he gives it a whole different depth than it.
• 15:22
  I've heard it before.
• 15:24
  That is huge praise, Collin.
• 15:28
  embarrass you.
• 15:32
  But Tina, I do want to talk about your approach to directing this.
• 15:34
  How have you decided to like, how do you approach a show bringing this from script to stage?
• 15:40
  Very carefully.
• 15:43
  Very carefully.
• 15:44
  This is actually the first show I've ever directed.
• 15:46
  Yeah.
• 15:50
  So it's kind of been a big learning curve.
• 15:53
  Luckily for me, like I said, I have a fantastic cast.
• 15:57
  I would not change anything or anything with my cast.
• 16:02
  They are so wonderful, easygoing, so adaptable.
• 16:06
  So as I'm going through it and they're going through it with me, uh it's just been uh a great experience, a great learning curve.
• 16:13
  So I don't know that I really have a big approach to directing being my first time.
• 16:17
  It's more like just jumping in and figuring it out.
• 16:23
  Which could be a big challenge.
• 16:24
  You're just, mean, this is a huge show to jump on into the...
• 16:30
  What has been the biggest challenge of bringing this show to life then?
• 16:37
  Oh, the biggest challenge?
• 16:39
  Time.
• 16:42
  Time, I don't feel like I have enough time.
• 16:45
  Like between rehearsals, vocals, trying to get everything together, building the set.
• 16:52
  Like I wish I could take my cast and just be like, hey, we live here for a month now and we're gonna figure it out.
• 16:58
  But that's not reality.
• 17:00
  Right, and a lot of people that maybe don't understand, with community theater, you're all living regular lives and then have to come in after work, after school, to bring these
• 17:10
  characters to life, to bring the story to life.
• 17:11
  And it's another full-time job.
• 17:13
  It's the second job.
• 17:15
  It is.
• 17:15
  And they do an amazing job.
• 17:19
  They are really wonderful.
• 17:20
  uh They come up or come in for rehearsals.
• 17:23
  They show up every night and it's last minute thrown in rehearsals.
• 17:28
  They're truly amazing.
• 17:29
  Analisa, what is your biggest challenge to either bringing Roxie to life or just to the show?
• 17:40
  Honestly, the most fun and challenging part for me has been doing the transatlantic accent.
• 17:46
  um If you want to call it that, I don't want to brand that that's actually what I'm doing because it's definitely some messed up version of it.
• 17:57
  But it's an attempt.
• 17:58
  Let's call it that.
• 18:00
  But no, I've never done a show.
• 18:01
  um
• 18:02
  where I've had to do any accent other than like a British one.
• 18:05
  So this has been a little different.
• 18:07
  uh And it's been a lot of fun to kind of to feel it evolve throughout.
• 18:11
  uh I knew I didn't expect that necessarily.
• 18:14
  Cause I mean, the music I've known and uh been around so much.
• 18:18
  that was a nice kind of cheat code to come in knowing most of the music, but I was not expecting the dialogue to be challenging.
• 18:26
  And I think we were telling you before we started recording, but.
• 18:29
  Chicago has a lot of underscoring underneath the dialogue because it's a true vaudeville musical.
• 18:35
  everything is very much continuous throughout the music and the talking and the dancing.
• 18:39
  It's all one big show, right?
• 18:41
  It's not um a lot of blackouts, not a lot of stopping.
• 18:45
  It's very continuous.
• 18:46
  And so the dialogue has to be just as on point as any of the lyrics or the choreography.
• 18:52
  So that one's been challenging, but it's been a lot of fun.
• 18:54
  How about for you?
• 18:56
  ah I just keep going back to, you know, like being playing this, character who's very serious at times and everyone is like dying to like have them work his kit, like work
• 19:08
  their case.
• 19:09
  um I guess someone who's larger than life because Billy truly does feel like a larger than life character because he thinks he's the bee's knees.
• 19:21
  He thinks that he is.
• 19:24
  God's given like he has a line in the show where he says um if Jesus Christ had lived in Chicago and he had $5,000, things would have turned out differently.
• 19:35
  Like he truly thinks that he is that good and to like fully be able to portray that character that way has just been a bit of a challenge for me.
• 19:47
  So what you're telling me is that Chicago's actually Billy's story, according to Billy.
• 19:54
  Yeah, that is interesting because I feel like every character, every main character in this story acts like it is there, like they are the main character.
• 20:01
  So it's definitely an ensemble leading group.
• 20:04
  That has to be difficult though too.
• 20:06
  I mean, not like maybe acting wise, to see these characters kind of struggling with like, they're the main character of the story here.
• 20:14
  Yeah, definitely.
• 20:15
  So Tina, with so many themes throughout this show, which ones resonate the most with you?
• 20:21
  like personally or...
• 20:24
  like what strikes you about this show with the themes like that line up with where you're at in your life right now?
• 20:31
  Um, just that, I guess everything is not always as it seems.
• 20:37
  to go, to go real deep.
• 20:38
  don't know.
• 20:39
  Maybe that you just can't fully trust the people that you, you think you can or can rely on.
• 20:45
  I mean, I think that's an important one.
• 20:47
  Absolutely.
• 20:48
  We want to always believe those people in our lives have maybe the best interest for us, but maybe they don't.
• 20:53
  Mm-hmm.
• 20:53
  Analisa, how about for you?
• 20:54
  What themes resonate the most with you?
• 20:56
  want to do something different than Tina too.
• 20:58
  um
• 21:00
  about this is we can edit any of this out, or if it's funny enough, we just keep it all in.
• 21:03
  True.
• 21:05
  Let's see.
• 21:06
  think theme-wise, maintaining the importance of um narrative for anybody.
• 21:15
  So kind building off what Tina said, like Roxie's character, Velma's character, they are all true multi-faced characters depending on the audience they're in front of.
• 21:26
  so, I mean, especially in community theater, like you said, we all live these very different versions of ourselves during the week where
• 21:33
  we're waking up and we're going to work and then we're spending time with family or kids and then we're in the theater and then we do it all over again and there's like a lot of
• 21:41
  compartmentalization that happens with each of these characters.
• 21:44
  um And like I said, you do see glimpses of heart for each of them at times, but it's immediately just ripped away because they have to go into their next little, you know,
• 21:55
  kind of show that they have to do to make sure that they make it to the day after.
• 21:59
  except Roxie whose last name is Heart.
• 22:00
  She has that heart the entire time.
• 22:02
  with no E, so...
• 22:05
  and have a for you.
• 22:06
  Man.
• 22:07
  um
• 22:08
  I know you just had two really good answers you have to follow up with here.
• 22:11
  I know.
• 22:11
  um I guess I would say.
• 22:14
  um
• 22:16
  Everybody's always motivated by something.
• 22:20
  Every character in the show is driven and they're driven by this one thing.
• 22:26
  And so I take that to, I guess I take that like to heart by saying no matter like what any of the characters or anybody else is going through, there's always that one driving force
• 22:41
  that's keeping them going.
• 22:44
  Whether that be like for Billy.
• 22:46
  love, um Roxie wants fame, all these other characters want these other things, but yeah.
• 22:54
  Fantastic answers.
• 22:55
  I just want to thank all three of you for being here today We are super excited to see this when it arrives at Pontiac IV theater ah But thank you for talking with us after
• 23:03
  having such a long day with your sitzprobe So
• 23:07
  Thank you for having us.
• 23:09
  So Chicago runs at Pontiac Four Theater from November 7th through the 16th.
• 23:13
  So get your tickets now and we'll see you at the show.