Chicago - Sale and Altrincham Musical Theatre Youth

IF I could act, sing or dance I would have an endless amount of fun playing the role of Billy Flynn, who takes the term dodgy to a whole new level. There’s something of so alluring and appealing to Flynn, a lawyer who would sell his own grandmother without batting an eyelid.

Lucky then, we have performers as talented as Marcus Florin who delivers a show stealing performance as the man entrusted with freeing Roxie Hart, the fame chasing heroine of the piece, from a murder charge.

Flynn’s big number for me remains Razzle Dazzle, a no holds barred celebration of sleaze and his own ability, silver tongued as he is, to convince gullible juries that black is white.

I also liked Thomas Birch as Roxie’s husband Amos, whose lack of self esteem is captured to perfection in one of my favourite numbers, Mr Cellophane.

Tabitha Valentine has quite a presence as Roxie, commanding the audience’s attention every time she sings a song from Kander and Ebb’s fabulous, dream of a score and both she and Freya Gow, who plays Velma Kelly, a character so resentful of the attention Roxie’s story is getting from the scandal hungry press.

What also strikes me about this production is how slick and professional the dance routines are, especially when you take into account just how small the stage of Altrincham Little Theatre actually is. The cast don’t put a foot wrong, a testament to their talent and the skills of director Kathleen Valentine and Kay and fellow choreographers Lauren Cowle and James Goodwin.

Sale and Altrincham Musical Theatre celebrates the big nine zero next year and on the evidence of this engaging and uplifting production the group’s future looks very bright indeed.

And I challenge anyone who sees and enjoys this show not to be humming at least one of the songs as they make their way home.

Youth theatre is far more than Bugsy Malone and Guys and Dolls and in SAMT’s case its definitely a case of if you’ve got it, flaunt it.

Until December 6. Tickets are available from samtheatre.co.uk.

Star rating - ****

Photo - Derek Stuart Cole.