- 10 hours ago
Kristen speaks with Max Cervantes, who plays Billy Flynn in the National Broadway Touring Production of Chicago. The two discuss whether Max considers himself a Velma or a Roxie, his favorite songs, and the show's return to Philadelphia after seventeen years. This full-circle moment allows Philly theater fans the chance to see Chicago at the Forest Theater where the show originally had its out-of-town tryout for the original production back in 1975.
Don’t miss this limited engagement from May 12th to 17th, which will conclude the current leg of the tour. It’s got All That Jazz and plenty of Razzle Dazzle too!
Don’t miss this limited engagement from May 12th to 17th, which will conclude the current leg of the tour. It’s got All That Jazz and plenty of Razzle Dazzle too!
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:01Hi Max, I'm from BenFM in Philadelphia and this is like one of the biggest perks of my
00:09job to just be able to talk to people about musicals which I love and you know there are
00:14so many classic you know tried and true shows and to me Chicago is just one of those shows
00:20because it's the music, it's the dancing, it's all of it and it's one that you can see
00:24a hundred times and you're still gonna love it like no matter how many times you see it
00:28so I'm so excited to talk to you and you play Billy Flynn in the show? Yes, that's correct.
00:35Could you tell me a little bit if someone has never seen Chicago ever before could you give
00:41the I don't know I guess elevator spiel on what the show is about and where your character
00:46sort of fits in? Yeah, if you've never seen the musical Chicago before then what are you doing?
00:52get to Philadelphia and come to the Forest Theatre and secondly it is about it takes place in the 1920s
01:01and it's about these two vaudeville performers Roxy Hart and Velma Kelly and they get entwined in some
01:09crime let's say that and they end up in jail and they need a lawyer Billy Flynn to come to
01:17their rescue
01:18and aid them to try and get them off scot-free and in the meantime you see the way that
01:24they yearn for fame
01:26and celebrity and want to get back out there and have their names at the tops of all the marquees
01:33as performers as well
01:34so as Billy Flynn um you know everything is razzle dazzle everything is charm and manipulation and he
01:43really just wants that that paycheck at the end of the day so it doesn't matter really what you do
01:49what
01:49you committed what crime you got into he'll be able to get you off if you have the money to
01:54pay him so
01:56that was perfect you should I mean like that's a perfect quote you did really well
02:02perfect description so the thing too I and I don't know if you know this about about Philadelphia
02:07we have not had and this is maybe someone's excuse for having never seen the show before
02:12Chicago has not been in Philly for 17 years so you know people are 17 years old and have never
02:18had
02:19the opportunity to see this show in Philly so are are you psyched to be you know maybe the first
02:25time for a lot of people here in our area when you come in town absolutely that's one of my
02:30favorite
02:31things or favorite perks I would say about being on tour is um going to the stage door after the
02:36show
02:37and when anyone especially when it's a younger audience member that says this is my first time seeing
02:43the show ever uh maybe not even the movie and just this is the first time on stage it's such
02:48an honor
02:49to be the first cast that these that people see uh do this show because for me I grew up
02:55on the movie
02:56then I saw it on Broadway and I did it the show in high school as well so I've always
03:00had a history
03:01with this show but for people that are that are just coming for their first time it's going to be
03:06an incredible experience because it's also the last uh stop of the tour that this touring production
03:13will will be at so Philadelphia is the last city that we're going to be in for this this part
03:19of
03:19the tour um and so that's going to be really special for us and then also I believe the force
03:25theater
03:25was the first theater that Chicago premiered an out-of-town uh tryout way back in the day so
03:32it's kind of like this full circle moment I'm kind of get goosebumps just talking about it but
03:36it's gonna be a really really unique um incredible experience and everyone's gonna be bringing their
03:41a game so definitely you are not gonna want to miss this awesome yeah you're right 1975 I think was
03:48like those first auditions and things like that in Philly and and I did not realize that we're the
03:53last stop on your tour so how many stops have you been on this leg so far oh gosh you're
03:58gonna get
03:58me there I think it's over 20 something cities uh I feel like way more than that actually but
04:06these past couple weeks have been nice we've did we did uh about two weeks in Toronto we're about to
04:11do a week in Chicago um we went to Honolulu we started we opened in Seattle in the fall for
04:18two
04:18weeks so being able to close this show in a big city like Philadelphia at the force theater where
04:24it originally you know out-of-town tryout back in the 70s it's just so incredibly cool so we've been
04:30a lot of places but we're really excited to to end it and come back to Philly and Philly this
04:36is a very
04:37big year for us the 250th celebration yes redone sidewalks like everything looks beautiful everyone's
04:44exciting there's there's a lot of events and things going on even while you're in town you can check them
04:48out and maybe just stay here since your tour is done after this show yeah you got to give me
04:53some
04:53recommendations please I would love to yeah absolutely recommendations we're a really big
04:58food city but you know listing like when you just went over that list I was wondering what some of
05:04your favorite cities were I mean that's a highlight reel right there just to be in Chicago in Chicago or
05:10yeah the show in the city and then Toronto for two weeks sounds amazing did you say Honolulu I'm just
05:17going to read that Honolulu yep amazing so yeah we are psyched to have you and and like I said
05:24a lot
05:24of people have never seen the show here in Philly and I had this experience with Hamilton where I knew
05:30the music inside and out I knew every song I thought I knew the show and then I went to
05:35see it in person
05:36and like a song like Satisfied where they did the backward choreography like I had no idea that's what it
05:42looked like until obviously on Disney plus and everyone can see it and you can go and see it in
05:47theater but it was one of those things where I'm like okay I thought I knew a show but I
05:51don't uh what
05:52do you think people that uh maybe know the music to Chicago what do you think they would be most
05:57surprised by seeing the show live on stage I think you'd be the most surprised by the comedy and the
06:06satire and the irony with this show I think our cast does a really great job at kind of um
06:13delving
06:13into how ironic it is to be saying some of these words at a time like this where ah day
06:21to day that
06:22you know the media is being manipulated and there's all of this kind of the wool over the eyes and
06:28this
06:28razzle dazzle so you don't really know what's going on behind the curtain um right so I think our
06:34cast is very aware of that and we a little like wink wink um exactly lots of wink wink but
06:40um but
06:41yeah so you have you ever seen the production of Chicago on stage I have I've seen it I saw
06:46it in
06:46New York one time okay what's what's one of your favorite numbers oh gosh I well the cellblock tango
06:53100% of course sometimes we get at most of the houses we get um because we have announcers
07:00someone in the cast usually announces what the next uh you know scene or song is going to be
07:05because it's very vaudevillian so um in that case I won't tell you who announces that song but when he
07:11announces it I love when the audience goes crazy and they start applauding and cheering before the
07:17girls even start you know pop six squish so that's really cool that's a great number my favorite one of
07:23my favorite numbers is razzle dazzle because it incorporates everyone in the cast um in terms of
07:29the ensemble and they're doing tricks and we're doing all of these uh you know like illusions to
07:35show you that this is all that all all the things that are going to happen in the next scene
07:40in the
07:40courtroom scene um to try and win over the jury and it's really just showing the the razzle dazzle of
07:48it all instead of really thinking yourself is this woman guilty or not guilty it's like that doesn't
07:53really matter so which I'm sure happens in everyday courtrooms all the time and I love that you tie it
07:59to what's going on now because again like the auditions for the first broadway were back in 1975
08:04here in philly but I actually just went and saw chess the musical in New York old war musical but
08:11they did the same thing the entire show they kept tying it to what's going on right now and and
08:17it
08:17really made it like very up to date it felt very modern for sure so I love that you're doing
08:22that with
08:23Chicago as well and I can totally see where that works and um as far as the choreography I mean
08:28Bob
08:28Fosse there's really there's nothing like it what's one of your favorite uh did you you dance in the show
08:35because you you've got razzle dazzle like what's your what are your favorite dances to perform or
08:40or moves that you do if you don't mind describing yeah I will uh absolutely say I dance but I
08:46do not
08:47do anywhere near uh as much dancing or the intensity or the specificity of dancing as our incredible
08:53ensembleists do with no spread eagle no spread eagle for billy flynn maybe not now maybe in philly I'll
08:59whip one out so okay but the the Fosse choreography that's through the lens of n ranking because she took
09:06the reigns in the 97 revival so it's her choreography that we're doing because she was so close with him
09:13and she knew his movement and she knew the integrity of what the show needed um so all of his
09:21choreography
09:21is is filtered filtered through her lens which is so incredible um and the um I forgot what your
09:28original question was was one of my favorite choreography moments I love even though it's very subtle because
09:34I'm sitting the whole time I love both reached for the gun and it's so fun because it's um I
09:40don't
09:40want to give too much away but Roxy's sitting on my lap and maybe she's we're doing some puppetry work
09:45and um I'm singing for her and the rest of the ensembleists are kind of being these um you know
09:53these like very intricate puppets and we're all it's like a very high intensity high energy um dance
09:59and um it's really fun to do that one about that song and actually on like tiktok right now have
10:05you all I'm sure you have seen the the lots and lots of people doing a dance to that song
10:12uh I'm gonna say yes so that I don't seem uh you know out of it but I actually need
10:18to go check that
10:19out I know there's one guy that's rapping that there's a there's like a video of him rapping
10:24both recently on which is amazing but I don't know if I've seen
10:27no no this is the regular song and it starts with oh yes oh and I'm not gonna sing I
10:32promise
10:33I won't do the two but like the choreography and like the hands are just kind of and I don't
10:38know
10:38if it's the original choreography from the show or not but then um it gets faster and faster and
10:43I think it maybe is 45 seconds or so I actually attempted it myself and like I'm too old these
10:48days
10:48wait I love that okay send me the video yeah I will I'll find you on Instagram and then you
10:54all
10:55can do it and outdo everyone yeah there are videos all over right now and and it's of that song
11:00which
11:00I forgot was in this musical there's just so many songs that you like you know one after another it's
11:06just hit after hit so as far as like the showstopper I know we mentioned cellblock tango what do you
11:12think is like the number one song that if you had to tell a stranger who's never seen the show
11:18like
11:18this is the song from Chicago like what would you say say that it is I'm definitely say all that
11:24jazz
11:24I mean I would say the overture you know from the first uh trumpet solo the overture into all that
11:31jazz where our Venla Kelly played by Claire Marshall comes up and um it's just the only person moving on
11:38the stage for like a split second and the lights on her it's just so iconic and that song all
11:45that
11:45jazz everyone kind of knows it so that kind of sets the scene for the rest of the show and
11:50then I will
11:50be a little bit biased but I think razzle dazzle is also a crowd favorite just because I don't I
11:56always
11:56kind of forget about it but there's a lot of um especially of a certain age the people in the
12:00audience like love that song and know all the words so then there are people singing along with us too
12:05which I love I love audience interactions so this is for the record please hoot and holler and
12:11and talk back and cheer and be so interactive because we break the fourth wall um in Chicago
12:17which if you don't know what that means it means we're talking directly to the audience we're
12:20communicating with you guys and we would love for that energy back which we always get to but um
12:26but yeah if there's any show to to really feel like you're part of it you're you are a part
12:31of this
12:32one for sure when you're coming to see Chicago a part of it but please don't sing I actually I
12:37went and saw Les Mis one yeah Les Mis very different every song and I just was like like I
12:43did not I
12:44didn't pay for this like you know yeah okay maybe I'll rephrase that maybe don't sing a full voice
12:49along with every song but um you know when there's a joke when there's uh when there's an applause
12:54really go for it and as far as definitely one of those shows now um Velma and Roxy you know
13:02the two
13:02main characters which would you say you are if you had to choose are you a Velma or I'm so
13:09I want to
13:10be a Velma definitely I'm definitely a Velma deep inside but at the same time like I feel like I'm
13:16also Roxy because um I don't know I feel like she's so hungry and eager and and wants to rise
13:23and
13:23sometimes is like just getting a little bit too big for her britches so um I feel like the the
13:29part
13:30of me that's still you know yearning and hungry for everything is is the Roxy and then the part of
13:35me that's like no like I've been here I know what I'm doing and yeah whatever is you know coming
13:41to me
13:41is coming to me because I deserve it and I earned it that's the Velma part of me so I
13:45think actually
13:45with all of within all of us I think we have a Velma and a Roxy that was so I
13:51don't know if you've had
13:51that question before but that was the answer it was really you know I had we had the question who
13:57do you like more or like who do you think is yeah like yeah which character I guess do you
14:02like more
14:03but I never was never asked like which one are you I think so I like the great question person
14:09thing it just so much sense and especially to say that we all have a little bit of both which
14:13we do
14:14but I love that and have you ever performed in Philadelphia before um no I have not performed
14:22in Philadelphia before no we did um Pittsburgh which we love that was awesome but not Philadelphia
14:29so I'm so excited and I'm from Chicago like I'm from the suburbs of Chicago which is um where we're
14:36playing next week so that's going to be incredible to be there and then go to go right from Chicago
14:42to
14:42another huge city Philadelphia with the history of Chicago as well it's just going to be so
14:47incredibly cool so I'm so excited to get there we actually I when I go to Chicago I feel like
14:53it's
14:53a city a big city that's similar to Philly like New York is really nothing like Philadelphia but but
14:59when I go to Chicago it has the same kind of I don't know if it's like a grit or
15:02whatever but
15:03I really love Chicago for that reason because it kind of feels like home so you'll get a little bit
15:07of both and and I'm excited I will definitely I'm going to send you that TikTok video the
15:12yeah absolutely and I'll also send you some recommendations for food and stuff for Philly
15:17while you're here and and yeah enjoy your time well we are so psyched about this show again I cannot
15:22believe it's been 17 years we need Chicago here in Philadelphia and I'm excited to see you in it
15:28as Billy Flynn Max Cervantes thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me
15:32thank you so much Kristen for having me on I really appreciate it and we'll see you uh in a
15:37couple weeks in Philly and and break a leg with your last couple of shows and and then have fun
15:42thank you so much I appreciate it
Comments