VietNamNet Bridge – For the first time a local drama club has bought the rights to adapt the famous Broadway musical “Chicago” into Vietnamese.

The Buffalo drama club will begin performing the musical “Chicago” today, June 18 at the HCM City Drama Theatre, 30 Tran Hung Dao Street, District 1.

"Chicago" is the musical for graduation of Nguyen Khac Duy, a student of the movie and theatre directing faculty of the HCM City Theatre and Cinema University. Duy then participated in the Young Talent Stage Director Award 2013 with this musical and won the encouragement award. After getting a copyright license, the work will be performed in HCM City on June 18, 19, 28 and 30 at the HCM City Drama Theatre.

The cast of this musical includes: Diem Phuong (Velma), Nha Uyen (Roxie), Hoang Quan (Billy), Kha Nhu (Mary Sunshine), Da Phong (Mama Morton) and director Khac Duy as Roxie’s husband.

Most actors are very young and some of them are students. With a love for musicals and the assistance of choreographer Tien Phat, they practiced singing, dancing and acting like real musical actors. Director Nguyen Khac Duy also made a very flexible Vietnamese version translated from the original work.

At the Young Talent Stage Director Award 2013, People's Artist Le Khanh commented: "The road to bring Broadway musicals to Vietnam is very difficult because this kind of stage art is unfamiliar with Vietnamese audience’s tastes. I love “Chicago” musical of Nguyen Khac Duy. I admire the fellows played in this musical and I believe that this is a step to bring musical to young people in Vietnam ..."

Chicago is a musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Prohibition-era Chicago, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same name by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins about actual criminals and crimes she reported on. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal."

The original Broadway production opened in 1975 at the 46th Street Theatre and ran for 936 performances until 1977. Bob Fosse also choreographed the original production, and his style is strongly identified with the show. Following a West End debut in 1979 which ran for 600 performances, Chicago was revived on Broadway in 1996, and a year later in the West End.

The Broadway revival holds the record for the longest-running musical revival and the longest-running American musical in Broadway history, and is the third longest-running show in Broadway history having played more than 6,700 performances.

The West End revival ran for nearly 15 years, becoming the longest-running American musical in West End history, and it has enjoyed several tours and international productions.

The Academy Award-winning 2002 film version of the musical was directed by Rob Marshall and starred Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, and Queen Latifah.

Over the past 30 years, there have been dozens of international versions of this musical with many different languages being staged. In Asia, there are two previous adapted versions in Japanese and Korean.

Synopsis: Velma Kelly is the sexy vaudeville star who murders her husband and sister after finding them in bed together. Roxie is the wannabe vaudeville star who kills her lover after finding out he was never going to make her famous. Enter Billy Flynn, the greasy lawyer whose goal is not only to have his clients acquitted, but to make them legal legends. With help from Matron Mama Morton both women vie for the spot as Illinois's most famed murderess, but there's only room for one legend...

Buffalo drama club was established on November 22, 2011, the day the Vietnamese version of Chicago by Nguyen Khac Duy was performed at the graduation.

The club was set up to create opportunities for newly graduated actors or students to have the stage to perform. Buffalo plans to stage experimental plays and work with large stages to arrange plays.

After Chicago, Buffalo will release a drama entitled “Red Snow” in June.  A Vietnamese version of another Broadway musical is also being planned for this year.

Van Ha