The merry murderesses of the Cook County jail return to QPAC in Chicago, the longest-running American musical in Broadway and West End history, and the electric ensemble is the highlight. After Brisbane, the show rolls on to seasons in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide.

In the excess of the 1920s Jazz Age, bored housewife and night club dancer Roxie Hart kills her lover when he tries to walk out on her. Although her devoted husband Amos tries to take the fall, Roxie finds herself in a Chicago jail awaiting trial. With her on Murderer’s Row are many other women, including former vaudeville star and current media darling Velma Kelly, all under the watchful eye and greased palm of Matron “Mama” Morton.

Wooed by the sensationalist media coverage of her crime, Roxie dreams of stardom and competes with Velma for public opinion, trial dates, and the services of sought-after criminal lawyer Billy Flynn.

Lucy Maunder and ensemble in Chicago. Photo © Jeff Busby

Based on the 1926 play by former reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins, Chicago is a darkly comic satire of celebrity culture, sensationalist media, and the American justice system as spectator entertainment. The...