Lining up on Wednesday night outside London’s Phoenix Theatre waiting to be admitted into a musical when the rest of the England gathered to shout at the TV screen for 90 mins was an experience in itself. It was as if we were defying the norm, and had chosen to be the outcasts of society.

You are not watching England play Croatia? What’s wrong with you?

Well, you see, I had a date with murders.

I don’t know what it says about me when I keep being invited to watch things relating to murders, but Chicago is one of those musicals that combines the cold blooded-ness of murder with the glamour of cabaret, which make the subject of murder and its court trials an art, so I had to say yes.

Even, if it’s on the day of the ‘un-expected event’ that England was playing in the semi-finals of the World Cup!

He had it coming… if you had been there you would have done the same.

Chicago is 21 this year, and this is my third Chicago experience of different productions.

The last time I saw Chicago it was on a much larger stage produced with a bigger budget (I assumed), so sitting in my seat in the dress circle looking at a stage that is being dominated by the band stand felt a little claustrophobic.

I had wondered where the actors and dancers were going to be.

The show began a little stiff. Perhaps they just needed a little warm up. Perhaps they couldn’t move very well with so limited stage space.

Or, I thought, perhaps none of the actors wanted to be there. After all, it was Wednesday night, and outside the theatre, the streets of Soho were crowded with England supporters drinking merrily and cheering on their team playing the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Thankfully, the cast soon warmed up and I too, began to enjoy myself. Or that I was simply getting too distracted by the very tight trousers of the male actors…. geez that’s some nice b…

Sorry… we were talking about the musical…

This production had chosen to present the musical with minimal staging props. A sense of place is mostly indicated by the style of lighting – where strippy lights shows jail and circular spotlights as street lamps. This design stops audiences being distracted by decoration and makes it easier to follow the multi-layers of action and conversation that often happens on stage but, as I am just a little bit old school, I found it ineffective for Chicago because it does require some certain glamour and colour.

BBC’s Martin Kemp (from EastEnders) is no Richard Gere (2002 Chicago), but did a decent job as the new Billy Flynn – previously played by Cuba Gooding Jr, although I thought he could be a little stronger and more arrogant in character. I really liked Sarah Soetaert as Roxy Hart and Paul Rider as Amos Hart was brilliantly pathetic, receiving a loud cheer for his Mr Cellophane performance and a sympathetic exit from the audience.

What the production lacked in stage design it made up with side comical elements. Having the band conductor involved in parts of the story (he had a couple of lines to support main acts) and the fantastic use of multi-character actor for the jury was smartly done. And Mary Sunshine was indeed not who she seems to be!

It wasn’t a full house performance but considering the football game the turnout was alright, and I bet in the end, we all had a better time than those who were hoping football is finally coming home….

I wasn’t entirely razzle dazzled, but I certainly did enjoy myself.

Chicago is playing at the Phoenix Theatre in London now until 5 January 2019

Performance dates and tickets at: Chicago The Musical