The Cher Show

Oriental Theater, Chicago, June 24, 2018

Reviewed by Todd Sussman

I’m not going to lie. After the real Cher made her entrance from the back of the Oriental Theater to thunderous applause (you see, they forgot to dim the house lights) and took her center orchestra seat, I was a bit distracted as Act II began. Sonny & Cher was the first act I ever saw in concert, and I have followed Cher’s career from the early television days to Las Vegas to the Broadway stage to the Oscar win to the farewell tours. Now this iconic, charismatic, beautiful, compelling presence (who is not only the subject of the show but also its most famous producer) was watching her story unfold just a few rows behind me, and I had to look back to read her face, if only for a few moments. Who wouldn’t look back?

The Cher Show is having its out-of-town tryout in Chicago. Next stop: Broadway. There is a lot of Cher to fit into a 2 ½ hour show. Glamour! Music! Costumes! Humor! Romance! Rick Elice, in his contemplative book, employs the clever device of having three actresses portray her at different ages, allowing for a running commentary as they provide each other feedback during rehearsals for a television special depicting Cher’s life story. Babe (who meets up with a burgeoning Sonny Bono), Lady (whose TV stardom makes her a household word), and Star (who finds success as a serious actress), are a formidable trio of interactive Chers. Micaela Diamond, Teal Wicks, and the amazing Stephanie J. Block provide a refreshing way to play a living legend who is still concertizing and making movies. This is Block’s second time donning a superstar’s persona; she previously played Liza Minnelli in The Boy from Oz. In this new show, she has the mature and wise Cher’s attitude down pat, along with her vocal phrasings. As an added bonus, she sometimes joins the other two Chers in gorgeous harmony, which also offers a fresh and compelling take on the familiar tunes.

A second device that takes a bit more time to warm up to is the reimagining of the multitude of Cher’s greatest hits as they are placed in the mouths of other real-life characters. Sometimes this works, for example, when Gregg Allman (Matthew Hydzik) duets with Lady on “Just Like Jesse James.” Sometimes, it is too much of a stretch, such as when Cher’s mother Georgia (Emily Skinner) sings “Half Breed.” The audience showed the most love when the hits stayed with their originators. Sonny and Babe singing their signature “I Got You Babe” was easily an Act I showstopper. Jarrod Spector, who recently played music man Barry Mann in Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, is an instantly winning Sonny and gives a standout performance. Skinner as Georgia is also the perfect sounding board, support system, and moral compass in the mother role.

Scenic designers Christine Jones and Brett J. Banakis pay homage to the memorable studio set where Sonny & Cher’s hit TV series first took flight, with the recurring circular logo bearing their faces and bringing us back to the 1970s. Here’s one suggestion that may add some expense to the budget but would be well worth it. In Cher’s 1975 solo TV outing, she opened each show by strutting down a moving runway that delivered her into the audience. The runway has not been resurrected for this Chicago run. Please bring it back, pronto.

The truly unbeatable eye candy of The Cher Show is the extravagant fashion parade of famous costumes designed by Cher’s long-time designer, Bob Mackie, each one more elaborate and glittery than the next. You can’t have a show about Cher without sequins, feathers, and color saturation, and these costumes are sure-fire crowd-pleasers. By the way, Mackie designed all of this show’s costumes; it isn’t too often that the designer is also a character in the show. Michael Berresse as Mackie has fun one-upping the censor with his daring, sexy, and ratings-boosting creations.

Act II feels a trifle less organic as the three Chers narrate her real life’s second act trials and tribulations—tackling Broadway, finding her audience as a serious film actress, and eulogizing Sonny. However, throughout both acts, Elice and director Jason Moore do an insightful job of capturing Cher’s relationships with her three primary love interests: Bono, Allman and Rob Camilletti (Michael Campayno). They spotlight the built-in conflicts and drama—the struggles, respectively, of being married to a business partner, married to a drug addict, and dating a much younger man who cannot fathom the fishbowl existence of a mega star.

With so much story to tell, this glossy production opts to gloss over (or altogether ignore) some of the more personal events that made the headlines. Cher’s early grappling with her daughter Chastity’s sexual orientation and subsequent transgender status is left unaddressed. Similarly, even hints of Cher’s political activism (and frequent Tweets) are nowhere to be found.

However, The Cher Show is packed with enough music and storyline to keep an audience absorbed. One Act II keeper is the presentation of chart-topping dance hit “Believe” as a reflective and melancholy ballad, giving Block another chance to demonstrate her vocal and acting chops. Of course, it’s the full-fledged, feel-good original dance version (appearing for the bows) the audience is clamoring for. This musical’s honest and outspoken subject has already admitted to some needed tinkering prior to the Broadway debut. But I think a large portion is already good to go.