Review: Chicago the musical UK Tour 2025, Glasgow - Janette Manrara brings the Razzle Dazzle to iconic musical
- Lisa in the theatre
- Aug 19
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 20
Broadway and West End musical Chicago arrives at the King's Theatre in Glasgow this week for the second last stop on its 2025 UK tour. The world-wide hit show about celebrity criminals sees Darren Day, Sinitta and Strictly Come Dancing's Janette Manrara join the tour cast for a weeklong run in Glasgow from 18 - 23 August.
Chicago: Music, book & lyrics: John Kander and Fred Ebb | Based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins | Co-author, original director and choreographer: Bob Fosse | Directed by Walter Bobbie
Chicago the musical 2025 UK Tour review, Glasgow ★★★★☆
review: 18 August 2025 | King's Theatre, Glasgow
1920s gangsterland Chicago: Roxie Hart (Janette Manrara) is a fame-hungry nightclub dancer who murders her lover then tells her infatuated husband that he was a burglar. Caught in a lie, arrested and thrown in jail, Hart meets other glamorous murderesses, including vaudeville star Velma Kelly (Djalenga Scott.) Hart hires devious criminal lawyer Billy Flynn (Darren Day) to ensure that her photo is splashed all over the newspapers, accompanied by sensational headlines to help her win the public's affections ahead of her jury trial.
Chicago is a musical about glamorous women accused of murder. But it's also about corruption, celebrity, the power of the media, the public's insatiable appetite for grisly stories... and all that jazz. Created by musical theatre greats Kander and Ebb, and legendary choreographer Bob Fosse, since it opened in New York in 1975, Chicago has played in 38 countries worldwide and been seen by an estimated 34 million people. Chicago the musical has a story that endures and a seductive appeal that never seems to dull in popularity.
Some of the best-known songs and iconic dance moves in musical theatre history
Chicago's iconic Kander and Ebb score includes some of musical theatre's best known songs, including “Razzle Dazzle”, “Cell Block Tango”, and “All That Jazz”. And the staging for this production of Chicago sees the superb, energetic live band seated on the stage with the Musical Director and musicians cleverly integrated into the performance.
While I always love to see musicians on stage rather than hidden underneath, the large tiered platform for the band here does take up alot of the stage floor. The central actors and dancers perform on a strip at the front of the stage. There is no set to speak off and barely any props, - a few chairs, feathers and ladders here and there. It's staged in such a way that it feels like we're watching Chicago the musical in concert. However I do think Chicago can get away with this because, much like Kander & Ebb's Cabaret, the nightclub-esque setting works.
There is (at first what appears to be) an odd choice to have members of the ensemble take on various small, supporting roles in the story but still dressed in their nightclub lingerie. Nonetheless that also works if we assume that we're watching a club / cabaret performance of a show within a show. Everyone in the plot of Chicago is putting on a show after all - the cult of the celebrity criminal nothing but showbiz. This production is clever and although I admit I was not a fan of this staging at first, it has absolutely won me over.
Dance is intrinsic to Chicago the musical and the ensemble company for this production are excellent. With Ann Reinking's sensational, sassy choreography in the style of Fosse's original, there's no mistaking the sexy, jazz-hands-esque moves that expertly represent the decadence and razzle dance of the 1920s. With the stunning dancers mainly clad in black lingerie throughout, this is one smoking, sultry show.
Janette Manrara, one of the most popular professionals on Strictly Come Dancing, steps into Roxie Hart's blood-soaked shoes here, and if you're wondering if she can act and sing as well as she can dance, that is a resounding yes! Manrara is sensational. Her comic timing is glorious and her vocals perfectly suited to Roxie. She looks at ease taking centre stage in a musical and this will hopefully not be the last we see of her doing so.
Co-starring with West End leading lady Djalenga Scott the pair are the beating heart of this show. Supported by the magnificent Darren Day as lawyer Billy Flynn, this could well be my favourite ever Chicago cast. As always, 'The Cell Block Tango' with the six merry murderesses of Cook County Jail and 'We Both Reached for the Gun' remain my personal favourite numbers in Chicago and they are executed exquisitely here. However Joshua's Lloyd's profound and poignant Mr Cellophane is the performance of the night.
Although I do feel that act one runs too long, the book for Chicago is nevertheless fantastic: one of the best in musical theatre. 1920s grisly yet glamorous Chicago is a fascinating time period, and the UK tour production of the musical is a smart, satirical take on the glamorous female murderers and wide-spread corruption of the time. ★★★★☆
The UK Tour of Chicago plays at the King's Theatre, Glasgow from Monday 18 - Saturday 23 August 2025 and then finishes the run at The Lowry, Salford from 25 - 30 August 2025. Find full dates and cast details below.
Chicago the musical - Glasgow 2025 dates
18 - 23 August 2025
King's Theatre, Glasgow
Tickets: atgtickets.com/Glasgow
Starring Janette Manrara as Roxie Hart, Darren Day as Billy Flynn and Sinitta as Mama Morton.
Chicago UK Tour cast 2025 - Glasgow King's Theatre
Velma Kelly Djalenga Scott
Roxie Hart Janette Manrara
Amos Hart Joshua Lloyd
Mama Morton Sinitta
Billy Flynn Darren Day
Mary Sunshine Jordan Lee Davies
Company: Bethany Adamson, Victoria Anderson, Josh Crowther, Joe Dale, Jessica Keable, Robin Kent, Annabelle Laing, Jacob McLay Reid, Jonathan Milton, George Olney, Oliver Ramsdale, Elly Shaw, Lucy Anne Stacey, Matthew Sweet and Ria Tanaka.
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