Gala set before last 'Chicago' production

Space could be tight at a special event before the last Montana Actors’ Theatre production of the musical “Chicago.”

Co-director Audrey Barger said the production has been well-received, and tickets have been selling out.

“The play has been going fabulously, and it’s been a packed house,” she said Thursday.

The Havre production of the award-winning Broadway mainstay started April 25, and a gala event is set to start at 6:30 p.m. before its final show Saturday.

For $30, people can attend the ”Cell-block Sangria” in the backstage lounge at the Little Theatre in the bottom floor of Cowan Hall on the Montana State University-Northern campus. People are encouraged, but not required, to come dressed in 1920s period costume.

The play tells the story of two women accused of murders in unrelated cases during prohibition-era Chicago.

Tickets will be sold at the door, space available, and are available in advance at Angie’s Wildflowers at 205 3rd Ave.

While tickets just for the show also would be sold if space is available, Barger said the event could fill up quickly.

The cast list has a plethora of MAT regulars as well as some new faces, with many playing multiple roles. One cast member, Rachel Dean, co-directed with Barger, as well as acting as one of the women accused of murder.

Other MAT regulars acting in the play include Angela Pratt, Martin Holt, Kristiny Lorrett, Donald Mayer, Brianna Fox, Kelly Reynolds, Haley Lippy, Oriah Pratt, Amanda Dolph and Mary Kaercher.

Some newcomers to MAT acting in “Chicago” are Brian Braatz, Angela Braatz, Molly Grubb and Erika Anderson.

The musical, written by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, opened on Broadway in 1975 and was made into an Academy Award-winning movie in 2002 starring Richard Gere, Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

It was based on a 1926 play written by journalist Maureen Dallas Watkins, based on two unrelated actual murders she covered as a reporter. Both women in the actual cases were acquitted.

Watkins’ play opened on Broadway in 1926 and was made into a silent film by Cecil B. DeMille in 1927.