This unofficial site features his current and recent events and tours
Review of Tony Hadley's first night in Chicago the Musical -
29th January 2007
I knew there must have been a reason for the huge gap in Tony's Calendar, but I
didn't expect this and when there was an announcement of news, I wondered if it
was a screening of the Trek DVD or a recording of a show for a DVD.
But Chicago the Musical it was going to be, at the Cambridge Theatre, Covent Garden, London. To go first night was a must. I try to do this any tour, but this was going to be different. I'd not been to see this musical before, so didn't have any idea of the plot, but as I had been to another musical without knowing the plot and had not understood it, I decided to buy the DVD of Chicago that starred Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger and Richard Gere to give me a flavour of what I was going to see.
We arrived back at Waterloo on Monday morning to find that the hoarding had been changed to the one above. We spent a few minutes looking at it and I took a photo. I also saw lots of posters for the show as I went up and down escalators in various tube stations. We also had a look around Covent Garden and checked out where the theatre and stage door was.
Evening came and time to go to the theatre. We went to have a drink and Tony's manager John Glover was in the bar with his wife, later Tony's partner Alison came into the bar.
Time to go into the Auditorium. We had third row seats, two seats in from the centre aisle. A good place but not too close to the front and an excellent view. From watching the DVD I knew that Tony wouldn't be on until about a third of the way through. I sat nervously waiting for him to come on - how would he get on singing without his microphone, would he remember the dialogue and how would he be with the dancing that he professes not to be able to do.
It was time to remember that I wasn't at a gig, but to see Tony arrive on stage as Billy Flynn in his Tux and bow tie looking so smart and professional made me feel this part was meant for him. In his first song All I Care About Is Love he is surrounded by the girls in the chorus dancing with fans. It must have been difficult to concentrate with this going on all around him, but he nailed it and he sounded really great. The dialogue was word perfect, but not sure where he got the accent from. The next song was We Both Reached For The Gun where Roxie sits on his lap and he directs her like a puppet. We get to hear more dialogue which as far as I am concerned was word perfect and at one point he has to catch Velma - watch your back there Tony. Tony's last song is Razzle Dazzle where he has to dance (or move as he calls it) cane in hand he dances (and very well) and sings.
As a singer and not an actor or dancer I thought Tony made an excellent job of this role, he wasn't wooden in the acting and coped admirably with the dancing, of course his singing was top notch as usual. I heard a couple behind us remarking how good his voice was and how long he held the notes. Of course it was over too soon and we waited at the stage door to congratulate Tony on an excellent performance. I'm going again and can't wait. I won't be nervous next time because I know that Tony can pull this one off in style.