Chicago: The Musical is razzling and dazzling Adelaide audiences. Time is running out to see this brilliant, high-energy production before it closes on August 31st. The cast features Anthony Warlow as Billy Flynn, Zoë Ventoura as Velma Kelly, Lucy Maunder as Roxie Hart, Peter Rowsthorn as Amos Hart and Asabi Goodman as Matron ‘Mama’ Morton.
Also in the cast is Adelaide’s very own Joe Meldrum. Joe joins the cast fresh from the US National Tour of Chicago: The Musical, where he understudied and performed the role of Billy Flynn.
In amongst his busy performance and rehearsal schedule, Joe spoke to Glam Adelaide about Chicago: The Musical, and where his love of performing and theatre came from.
“My parents are both triathletes, so they put me in every sport under the sun growing up. It wasn’t until I saw The Lion King for my 10th birthday that I kind of went, ‘That’s what I want to do!’ It’s a very different sort of triathlon in a sense – acting, singing and dancing as opposed to running, cycling and swimming. Performing was always something that I really enjoyed. I started doing Pelican Productions and their Music Theatre Camp and found a really beautiful community there. It’s really been theatre or nothing since then. I’m very grateful that I had teachers and parents who supported that because I think that’s such a huge part of it.”
Nothing quite beats performing in front of a hometown audience in a show such as Chicago: The Musical.
“It truly is lovely. I say this is a joke often, but after doing the US tour of Chicago for the last eight months and then doing a few months in Korea as well, I feel like I’ve built up the karmic bank in terms of performing for family and friends. It’s such a great feeling to be performing for home crowds after performing around the world for strangers, which is still really special. It feels really lovely to be doing Chicago back here because growing up here it has so much more weight to where I am and what I’m doing. My first musical that I saw at the Festival theatre was Singin’ in the Rain – so it’s really great to finally be performing on this stage with the show.”
Joe shared with Glam Adelaide what it is about Chicago: The Musical that he loves.
“I feel I should be saying the legacy and the choreography, but honestly the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that each company of the show around the world is not created in a cookie cutter format – It looks at the strengths of each performer, whether it be ensemble members or lead roles. It works towards what they can bring to the show individually. I think it is really special because often we get these big blockbuster musicals coming to Australia, and more often than not it’s a clone of the Broadway version of the show. But with Chicago, you feel like you’re bringing yourself to the stage each and every night which is really lovely.”
Chicago: The Musical is only in Adelaide for a limited time, and must close on August 31st.
“It has been so much fun working with this Australian cast. I think it’s actually really fun coming in as a replacement as well, because you sort of have to shift and adapt to what’s there, but you already have this foundation. It’s like you buy a cake base and all you have to do is decorate it, as opposed to having to bake the cake and go through that formula. It’s really cool to come in and just have some fresh new energy, and as I said, because each individual is allowed to bring something about themselves or their inspiration to a character or a part of the show, it keeps it very fresh. So it’s been really nice to come in and share the magic of this show with this company and just be back on home turf and see quite a few familiar faces in the audiences each night.”
Chicago: The Musical
Now playing at the Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre until August 31.
chicagomusical.com.au
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