'...and all that jazz' heats up the Moonlight Amphitheatre

"The piano's hot!" at the opening night of "Chicago, The Musical" presented by Moonlight Stage Productions.

Broadway's second longest running musical is the closing show for the 38th summer season of the Vista amphitheater. Loosely based on incidents of 1920's Chicago murders...the writers of the book for the play, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, finally were able to buy the story rights from the estate by the original playwright.

True to Fosse's legendary sophisticated choreography, the stealthy Master of Ceremonies (Danny Hansen) cocks his fedora and slinks back to the heart-stopping tink, tink, tink of the opening rhythms to "Chicago, The Musical."

Carried by the raunchy blurts from the trombone section, Velma Kelly (Roxane Carrasco) strutted headlong into the opening number. She seductively suggests she is gonna "rouge her knees and roll her stockings down" to the jazzy sounds of the onstage band under the baton of the talented Kenneth Gammie.

Carrasco's sizzling opening number as Velma Kelly sets the tone for what is another smash hit for the outdoor venue urging everyone to "come on babe, why don't we paint the town..." and with her leading the way, we'd all end up in jail.

Stylish and sharp, every click, flick and pop celebrate the choreography and music of this smart production co-directed by Terra C. MacLeod and James Vasquez.

MacLeod shimmies her way into a cell as the cold-blooded murderer Roxie Hart. Unrepentful for shooting her former lover, Fred Casely (Tim Stokel), she dismisses her affair as "fooling around without dinner." MacLeod is a seasoned pro and it shows throughout.

It is easy to see how Tim Stokel's sinewy dancer's physique would tempt a miss to misbehave.

Exploiting her notorious inmates as the irrefutable Matron "Mama" Morton is Moonlight newcomer Regina LeVert. She packs plenty of punch in her role even occasionally flirting with audience members. She delivers a knock out performance.

Mama's domain is Murder's Row at the Dade County jail in Chicago. Her domain requires the ongoing supervision of the six murderesses under her care,

Mama's little angels are Hunyak (Danielle Airey), Go-to-Hell-Kitty (Nicole Athill), Mona (Kalin Booker), June (Deborah Fauerbach), Liz (Tamara Rodriguez), and Annie (Amy Beth Schmiedel). Naturally, the ladies are all innocent since "he had it coming."

For the two most notorious ladies, with ready cash, Mama will arrange a phone call to Chicago's most celebrated lawyer Billy Flynn, played to the edge by song and dance man David Engel. As the dastardly, media-hugging, smarmy defender of the truth, while only in search of justice, of course, Engel is (well, hell) he is simply wonderful. Handsome to a fault, his courtroom skills are flawless. David Engel is indeed the vision of a knight in shining armor! Hurray! A splendid performance.

The other fellow we meet in this show is local actor Randall Hickman. In this show he plays Roxie's invisible husband Amos Hart. In the past, and all too frequently, Hickman has been cast and rewarded for playing outrageous caricatures. And for those performances, I, too gave him high marks. But, it is this work as Amos Hart that will forever live in my memory. He is quiet. His work is riveting, Applause. Applause. Applause.

In multiple roles, the spectacular male half of the dancers include Edgar Cardoso, Tad Fujioka, Ty Koeller, Jacob Narcy, and Matthew Ryan. After a bit, it becomes very apparent they are not just hot, sexy eye candy, the fact is these dancers are trained athletes of the highest order. They practice in private so they can entertain us in public.

There isn't a story worth telling without a reporter. In this show, Mary Sunshine (Elle H. Jacobs) fills the bill. Prim and all of the things the name implies, this performance was indeed one of a kind.

In addition to the talent on stage, it is the work of a small army to get it there. Corey Wright is the choreographer staying true to the Fosse memory; JD Dumas is the house musical director; Jennifer Edwards lit the set perfectly; Jim Zadai worked the understandable sound; Gabe Nunez is the clever make up designer and Peter Herman was on wigs and hair that work well in this show.

And, oh, the band. It is as important as the dancers. Filling the air with the sweet sounds of jazz are Chaz Cabrera, Jared Cruz, Sharon Martin, John Reynolds, David Fennell, Mark Lewes and Andrew Moreau played the rasty trombones, Brandon Jagow, Luke Nelson, JD Dumas, Jim Mooney and Steve Wright on percussion. The original music is written by John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote the lyrics.

Be sure to bring your jazz hands to The Moonlight Amphitheatre to see "Chicago, The Musical" while you can still squeeze in for a ticket. The show only runs until Sept. 29 and then it's gone. Box office: (760) 724-2110 or moonlightstage.com to purchase on line.

Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" will run from Oct. 12 to 20 at 7 pm. Tickets are on sale now for this Moonlight Youth Production. Box Office: (760) 724-2110 or moolightstage.com only $12 to $22. Free parking.

The drawing opportunity continues for two free tickets to see "Mamma Mia" on Sunday, Dec. 16 at The Welk Resort Theatre. Send your name and contact information to: [email protected] for a chance to win.

"Chicago, The Musical" is rated 10 out of 10.