NEW YORK – There’s only one Roxy Hart. And yet – stick with us here – there are many Roxy Hearts.
The murderous, washed-up chorus girl is the beating heart of Broadway’s main musical “Chicago,” but no single actor owns her. Instead she is a rotating cast of performers who, at a glance, have very little in common – but everyone is wearing a bowler hat and wandering around the stage.
Far from being household names are musical theater professionals. Others, like Roxy herself, have notoriety but little stage experience. Some people are at the peak of fame. Some people are tired of the world and want to be in the limelight again.
Since 1996, Roxy’s roster has included Brooke Shields, Sandy Duncan, Marilu Henner, Christie Brinkley, Mel B, Gretchen Mol, Brandy, Robin Givens, Lisa Rinna, Ashlee Simpson, Jennifer Nettles, “Trading Spaces” host Paige Davis Are. “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner Jinkx Monsoon, “Pose” star Angelica Ross and Ariana Madix from “Vanderpump Rules.”
“‘Chicago’ is different,” says Barry Weissler, who is head producer with his wife Fran. “It constantly welcomes people. There are never any closed doors as far as we are concerned.”
Roxy is not a pretty role: she kills her lover and tries to pin the blame on her retarded husband. She becomes wildly hungry for fame behind bars and, after being acquitted, takes advantage of the review by teaming up with rival Velma. “The name on everyone’s lips / It’s gonna be Roxy,” she screams.
Revivals have been around for decades, one reason for which is often the involvement of celebrities to lead a show about the sexuality of celebrities.
“The casting of this show is very much in line with the show,” says choreographer Greg Butler, who helps prepare the actors in Los Angeles. “We talk about celebrity and how celebrity is glorified. And yet, in a way, we glorify it.”
Even if they are glorified, stars still have to perform. So how does “Chicago” turn a reality star into Roxy?
Each Roxy must memorize her lines, sing and walk down a staircase wearing high heels. But the role remains flexible.
Secret about Roxy: She has two very big songs – “Funny Honey” and “Roxy” – but the role is not as physically demanding as Velma. And Roxy will always be taken care of.
Director Walter Bobby revealed, “I always say that when we bring in these celebrities, we have to protect them so that everyone around them and every other part is completely pro-Broadway.”
In “Roxy”, the cheerful assassin is surrounded by attractive, brilliant male dancers.
Bobby says, “Roxy could easily stand there and have seven men make love to her and the number delivers.”
Some Roxies need a lot of work, including singing lessons. Some Roxies you leave alone. Take Pamela Anderson, who was a hit in 2022.
“Let her do whatever she wants,” says Weissler. “So she can’t do somersaults, she can’t do splits. It’s okay because she’s Roxy.”
The team tries to incorporate star signatures. For example, to the bottom of Anderson’s dress, the costume shop added fabric that resembled a bathing suit bottom, a nod to “Baywatch.”
“No one in the show tries to copy anyone else’s performance. I always try to say, ‘I don’t want you to play Roxy. I want you to find the Roxy inside you,” says Bobby.
However, it all starts with the arrival of an interested celebrity.
“When I approach an agent for a star—no matter how big or small—I always say, ‘Don’t ask what you can do for “Chicago,” but ask what “Chicago” is.” What it can do for you,” says Duncan Stewart, who has engaged with artists for nearly two decades.
Stewart, ARC vice president and casting director, emphasizes the glamor and glitz of the part as well as its relative ease in conversation. All you need is some training and a desire to wear a black cocktail dress.
“You don’t have to dress up as a spoon or fork. You don’t have to wear green and sing in the stratosphere,” he says. “You can practice for four weeks and you can do a six-week quick sprint. You can have your Broadway show in less than eight weeks.” Can debut and inherit.
Sometimes a celebrity will ponder a pitch for years. Sometimes they only need a few days.
“It’s all about timing. “It’s all about perseverance and never accepting no,” says Stewart.
Celebrities sign up for a variety of reasons: Broadway is on their bucket list. Their latest tour sold poorly. He recently got divorced. They’re doing it for their kids.
“They need a way to say to the world, ‘I’m worthy. I can prove my ability,'” says Stewart.
Once or twice a year he goes to the newsstand and buys $400 worth of magazines – Ebony, People, Variety, you name it. He hands them over to his staff with a black pen.
His instructions: “There are no bad thoughts. Circle each of these journals and write in black pen, ‘Roxy,’ ‘Velma,’ ‘Billy,’ ‘Amos,’ ‘Mama.”
The names go into a spreadsheet, which goes to the marketing team and producers, who score the names from one to five. A terrible one. Three, four and five motivate him to pursue interest and availability.
Stewart then prepared a dossier detailing the background of a possible Roxy – perhaps she had played saxophone or sung with a band in high school. He sends the report and any YouTube footage to Weissler.
With their go-ahead, the proposal ends – contingent on a successful boot camp.
Like the military, Roxy’s boot camp is meant to prepare volunteers – with very little yelling.
“We try to meet them where they are,” says Butler, associate choreographer since 2005, who has performed in the show for 14 years and was a dance captain.
“They have something you can’t really teach them. They understand the idea of celebrity,” he says. “They’re pulling from life.”
Butler usually asks the would-be Roxy to draw what they know: red carpets, news conferences, her being photographed by the paparazzi. They leave from there.
“Eventually, your feet will probably have to leave the ground and you’ll probably have to kick. So I have to teach you how to punch your feet,” he tells his star students.
He started a session with Rita Wilson by asking if she had a favorite pose. “And she was like, ‘Oh my God! I have this pose,'” says Butler. “We used it and then she started building from that.”
The original “Chicago” debuted on Broadway in 1975, directed by Bob Fosse. Butler credits Ann Reinking – the distinguished Fosse collaborator who originated Roxy in the 1996 revival and created the choreography in Fosse’s style – with knowing how to accommodate each successive Roxy’s skills. Vocal coaches also help in finding the right key and approach for each song.
One of the hardest things Roxy faces is singing “Hot Honey Rag”. In a scene called The Cakewalk, the actor must dance backwards while executing a series of complex arm movements. Trained dancers like Reinking rely on their strong core. But Melanie Griffith, primarily a film actor, struggled with The Cakewalk. While Griffith was preparing to become Roxy in 2003, the two experimented with different ideas.
“He had just started doing something and Annie saw him doing it and she was like, ‘Oh my God! Ok. Do that again,’” he recalls.
What Griffith did was that he moved his hands over his head and moved his hips and arms at the same time.
“Anne said, ‘That’s it. This is your step,'” he explains. “So now there’s a step in the show that we call The Melanie, just in case I have an actress where The Cakewalk isn’t spectacular on them. It seems.”
Some elements may be subject to change but make no mistake: this is hard work.
“I have pain in some new parts of my body that I didn’t know would actually hurt,” says one of the newest Roxies, Alyssa Milano, in the middle of her boot camp. “And I’ve been a dancer all my life.”
Roxies who do not have an extensive stage or dance background may feel insecure.
“I tell them it’s perfect for Roxie Hart,” says Butler. “I’m like, ‘Honey, you’re halfway there.'”
Melora Hardin was more than halfway there. “The Office” star grew up not only able to sing, but also a lifelong dancer, first in ballet and then jazz.
Hardin was taught some songs at Valley Studios before flying to New York to perform in front of Weissler and his team.
She could tell he liked it.
“Barry takes me to the window and puts his hand on my shoulder and asks, ‘Where have you been? Why haven’t I met you before?'” she remembers.
He got the job on the spot.
Fast-forward and Hardin made her Broadway debut in late 2008 with her husband and two young daughters. When fans threw roses at her, she tried to toss them to her girls. She laughs and says that the crowd seemed more impressed by her acrobatics than her Fosse steps.
“It’s definitely something that I’ll put down as one of the most enjoyable times of my life,” Hardin says. “I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing experience.”
Despite recessions, hurricanes, pandemics and Oscar-winning adaptations, the Roxy has been performing for more than 11,000 performances on Broadway. “Chicago” is the second-longest-running show in Broadway history, behind the now-defunct “The Phantom of the Opera.” Overall, the musical has been seen by more than 32 million people in 36 countries and more than 500 cities.
“The show changes from actor to actor, country to country, city to city, company to company,” says Butler.
But Butler has his favourites. He still gets excited whenever one of his Roxy hits: “It’s like giving birth. I’m just saying, ‘Oh my God, my little baby is going to move!’
Trends come and go, but “Chicago” endures because of its narrative filled with celebrity culture, greed and media manipulation. “It is becoming more relevant, not less. And more,” says Weissler.
Bobby bristles at critics who deride the turnstiles as a gimmick: “You can call it stunt casting all you want. There’s an authenticity to it.”
He argues that “Chicago” will always be different from other Broadway shows.
“The boy doesn’t get the girl. Girl gets girl,” he says, laughing. “It’s about romance with show business.”
Illustration by Annie Ng.
Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
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