The critically acclaimed, Off-Broadway musical “Chicago” is coming to perform at the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts on April 29, 2026. The show starts its tour of the U.S. Jan. 20, and will finish in May, making a stop for one night only here in Pittsburg, KS.
The Bicknell Family Center for the Arts hosts Off-Broadway shows as often as they can, with three scheduled for the 2025-2026 school year. “Artrageous” was in September, with “Uptown” scheduled for February and “Chicago” coming in April.
“Chicago” is meant to be a satire about corruption in the administration of criminal justice systems in America, specifically Chicago, in the 1920s. The 1920s, or the Roaring ‘20s as they are often called, was the heart of the jazz scene in America. As such, the entire soundtrack is done in a jazz style, all while the “Merry Murderesses” of the show make a performance of their court cases.
Several of the songs have become quite popular throughout social media and in dance team circles, such as “And All That Jazz,” “Razzle Dazzle,” and “Cell Block Tango.” Everything from the signature style of slow, sensual, jazz choreography, risqué flapper dancer style of costumes for the main characters, and dancers, and of course the iconic music make the musical one to remember.
The show coming to Pitt will have set design done by John Lee Beatty, who has designed sets for more than 115 Broadway productions. Costume design will be done by William Ivey Long, whose work on Broadway shows like “Hairspray,” “Cinderella,” and “Young Frankenstein” speaks to his experience. Lighting design will be done by Ken Billington, who has worked on “Chicago” before, winning the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design nine times since 1997, and sound design will be done by Scott Lehrer.
According to Shawna Witherspoon, the “patrons will see what they originally would have to travel to New York City to see,” right here in Pittsburg, KS.
The original story started as a play written by reporter and playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins. It is based on a set of murder trials Watkins covered in 1924. The trials were for Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner. Watkins worked for The Chicago Tribune, and Chicago had gotten into an intense fascination of female murderers, and as such, these two women were a hot topic for the tabloids of the time.
At the time of the trials, juries were all male, leading to a string of acquittals for these female murderers in Cook County. Typically, these juries would condemn convicted murderers to death by hanging, but with all these women walking free following their murder trials, a new lore arose in the city saying that women could not be convicted for murder in Chicago.
Roxie Hart, one of the main characters of the production, is based on Annan, who at the time of her trials was 23 and accused of murdering Harry Kalstedt, who in turn became the basis for the character of Fred Casely. Gaertner, as you can guess, was the basis of Velma Kelly, the other star lady of Chicago, and was a cabaret singer and society divorcee.
Just days apart, both women were acquitted. The fame garnered from covering these two trials was enough for Watkins to write a play based on them. Her show was first posted in 1926, running 172 performances. Later in 1944, it was remade as Roxie Hart, but in this one, Roxie was being accused without having actually committed the crime.
It was not until the 1960s where the script was picked up again, and upon Watkins’ death in 1969, the rights were sold to producer Richard Fryer, Verdon and Fosse. The musical was written by John Kander and Fred Ebb, where they modeled it after a traditional vaudeville type of number, and opened in 1975, running for 936 performances before closing in 1977.
After opening again in 1979, and running for 600 performances, it was closed for some time again until it reopened in 1996 and has been open ever since, touring all over the US and United Kingdom. It surpassed “Cats” as the second longest running American musical on Nov. 23, 2014, after its 7,486th performance, but is still behind “Phantom of the Opera.”
Tickets to see this show can be purchased at the Ticket Office in Room 137 of the Weede Building, 1701 S. Homer, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, by phone at (620) 235-4796, or online at bicknellcenter.com