Opening Night Diary: The Return of Chicago on Broadway - TownandCountrymag.com
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Courtesy Ana Villafañe
Until Broadway shut down in March of 2020, Chicago had been running uninterrupted for nearly 24 years. On the night of September 14, the hit musical—about a pair of Jazz Age murderesses with dreams of stardom—roared back to life at the Ambassador Theatre, and it seemed as though no time had passed at all.
Opening night wasn’t just the return of the Walter Bobbie-directed show, however, it was also the first public performance for a slate of new cast members including Ana Villafañe as Roxie Hart, Bianca Marroquín as Velma Kelly, Lillias White as Mama Morton, and Paolo Szot as Billy Flynn.
“When I first decided to go for this, there wasn’t a lot of time—there was a less than a week before starting rehearsals,” says Villafañe, who previously played Gloria Estefan in On Your Feet! “I didn’t realize how hard it would be, and how you’re being shot out of a canon. Roxie’s an emotional rollercoaster; the whole show centers around her murdering [the man with whom she’s having an affair]. There’s a distinct energy and it’s giftwrapped in these sensual, delicious moves. It’s a very glamorous, very crazy character. Right now, I’ve only done it twice for an audience—we didn’t do previews—so I hope I’ll keep discovering who my Roxie is as we go forward. I’m interested to see what it’ll feel like in a week and a week after that. That’s the beauty of theater, things can grow.”
Here, Villafañe opens her personal camera roll to T&C to share a behind-the-scenes look at the opening night of Chicago, and the moments that audiences didn’t see on stage.
"I see this picture and I imagine my 10-year-old self dreaming about doing this as a career. This is me the day before opening, we're in rehearsal and I'm wearing my finale shoes to keep breaking them in. One of the benefits of not having seen Chicago before joining the show was getting to feel like I was doing my homework. I remember going to Target one day after rehearsal because I needed to put my script and score in a binder; the rest of the cast knows the show backward and forward, but I was there with a highlighter and Post Its. It felt like going back to school, and here I am taking notes on feedback from a dress rehearsal."
"This is backstage at the show. Our stage manager took this photo because we were going to rehearse the curtain call and they were teaching me how to curtsy. It was just before I ran out, and it was the last moment before we opened the show. I was thinking about all the people who stood there before me and that it’s also my place now."
"Talk about an icon! William [Ivey Long, the costume designer] flew in from North Carolina for my fitting. I was so honored that he put in the time and attention and really wanted to make something new for me. I was fan girling when I got to his studio to first meet him and didn’t really know what to say. In this picture, I had just come from rehearsal and was exhausted, but he was just so enchanting and told me all of these incredible stories with a genuine joy for what he does. I was so excited to be in the presence of literal greatness."
"Our producers, Barry and Fran Weissler, did a champagne toast on stage right after the show, which was so special. It was a great moment for the whole company and crew. I can’t imagine what it’s like to spend 25 years producing this musical, having it shut down for the first time, and then reopening in this sensational way. The final scene was difficult to get out because the audience was going wild—they’re just as hungry as we’ve been to get back. It was wonderful to toast the incredible work everyone’s done."
"I walked into my dressing room after our dinner break and it felt like a greenhouse in there. This is only from one angle; behind the camera there’s a whole other wall of flowers. It’s such a beautiful thing. There are so many fun traditions and moments around doing a Broadway show that can go by so fast, I’m glad I took these photos to capture it."
"This is me in my dressing room. I’m very excited about this pink sofa, which is something I never would have bought for my actual apartment but is the cutest. We’ve only been in the theater for 10 days, but the dressing room is becoming home. The building is so rich in history, which I’m not used to. The Marquis, where I was before, had just been renovated and is totally modern. The Ambassador has a dense history and hallowed halls. To be in the same place as the icons who’ve worked there, I just try to soak as much of it in as I can."
"For this photo, I stood stage right and was in a pool of light, and this wild lens flare happened and I was obsessed. The move is called the Boogaloo—this scene is at the end of 'All That Jazz'—there are very specific words for the moves. I think it’s great how the choreography is honored that way."
"My mother took this picture and I love it! Both Bianca and I look just like our real selves in it, you can read our expressions perfectly. That stage full of rose petals was absolutely beautiful; it was an idea Walter came up with, to buy hundreds of roses and throw them during the curtain call as a tribute to Ann Reinking. It felt and looked stunning."
"This is my Roxie scent. For every role I play, I do three things: I make a play list of what they’d listen to, I get a journal to write things about them, and I get a scent. That’s the best because it immediately transports me into their mindset. I went shopping right before we started rehearsals, and I wanted to get something that I could put on to take me immediately to where I needed to be to play Roxie, and in smelling all the different scents I was also reading their names. When I found this one, it was just perfect—after all, she is guilty!"
"This is right after the show, the moment I walked out of the stage door. We can’t have guests backstage, so walking out there you’re hit with that unmistakable New York energy. It felt magical. I’d been feeling the audience’s energy from the stage, but when you’re on the sidewalk with all of these people—especially for me, since I haven’t been on a Broadway stage since 2017—it is just overwhelming. I was actually grateful to be wearing a mask, because I was a bit of a mess under there. I was exhausted and elated. My family had come, and hugging friends I hadn’t seen in so long, was exciting."
Adam RatheSenior Editor, Arts and CultureAdam Rathe is a senior editor at Town & Country, covering arts and culture and a range of other subjects.
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