Chicago

I've never been a great fan of musicals - I generally can't stand the fifties 'classics' of the genre, although I'm a bit more willing to watch them live on stage. There's a Broadway production of 'Chicago' on at the Madinat Arena this week. We had decided not to afford it, but then we were given a pair of comps (long story) for yesterday's matinee show. This was double-plus-good - an early start and finish suited us just fine.

I don't know what the Arena looks like normally, I've never been in there before. But for this show they have built a whole theatre inside the massive hall. Our seats were in the 'grandstand', which consisted of tiny plastic flip-down seats and extremely narrow rows. I felt like a sardine and I'm only little - tall or obese people would have an extremely hard time in these seats. The front section of the hall was 'VIP' seating - real chairs and tons of leg-room.

However, the discomfort of the seating paled into insignificance once the show started. It was utterly magnificent! The set, the 14-piece band, the performers and the lighting were all absolutely first-class. The sound was also outstanding, and I'm sure they were singing live - you could hear every breath, grunt and gasp, but you couldn't see any microphones at all. Anybody have any ideas how that was done? Let me know. Oh, and the costumes, mustn't forget the costumes - this is Dubai, right! Outrageous.

Anyway, it's running for a week - get there if you can, it's absolutely amazing.