“The name on everybody’s lips is gonna be Roxie.” So sings Roxie Hart and her “boys” in the musical Chicago, and so it proves to be in this latest Australian production of Kander and Ebb’s musical. With Natalie Bassingthwaighte giving the performance of the night as the fame-seeking chorine who gets away with murder, it really is Roxie’s show. The performance of the top-notch ensemble is also to die for.

As for the show itself, though it was written over 40 years ago, it is so tuned into the zeitgeist that it feels like it was written yesterday. Set in 1920s Chicago, playground of Al Capone, the musical is a dark, corrosively funny satire about corruption in the American justice system, society’s obsession with celebrity, and the fickleness of the easily manipulated media. Kander and Ebb not only had their finger on the pulse when they wrote Chicago, they could have been gazing into a crystal ball at today’s world. Rather than feeling dated, the musical feels fresh, slick and incredibly timely.

When Chicago premiered on Broadway in 1975, directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, it received mixed reviews. Many found it too...