Word: mcdonnell
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Heller cannot be blamed for the script's shortcomings, but her staging decisions accentuate the play's negative qualities. Producing Chicago in the Leverett House Old Library is a serious mistake. Although Heller and choreographer Allison McDonnel cleverly incorporate Leverett's stairwells into the action, the choice of venue leaves almost no room for the 18 actors. Chairs for the audience and the four-piece band swallow the majority of the available stage space; the side aisles should have been opened to provide the dancers with an outlet for movement. As is, the concentration of bodies results in our hearing...
Although several of the actors bump into each other in the course of Chicago, McDonnel deserves credit for keeping the on-stage mayhem to a minimum. She shouldn't have to work this hard, but Heller insists on the hackneyed technique of inserting the chorus into virtually every song and ending most numbers with the entire company surrounding the lead singer. These techniques should have been used more sparingly...