Iowa City native returning to Hancher stage with ‘Chicago’

The razzle-dazzle of Riverdance on Iowa City’s former Hancher stage tapped into Paul Amrani’s heart and soul at age 3. Now he’s 24, and returning home to share the razzle-dazzle of “Chicago” on the new Hancher stage, during four performances May 3-5.

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He definitely remembers seeing Riverdance at that young age, although he’s not sure if his memories of the dance numbers are from seeing it live or from watching the VHS tape his folks bought that night.

“I watched it every single day for at least four years straight,” Amrani said by phone April 18, from a “Chicago” tour stop in Easton, Pennsylvania.

But he distinctly remembers asking his parents to help make his dancing dreams come true. They enrolled him right away in the University of Iowa’s Youth Ballet. When he turned 7, he turned to ballet, and at 13, he turned to the Nolte Academy.

Even after all of his ballet studies and several princely roles, he laughed and said he’s the one who falls down onstage in “Chicago.”

“I’m kind of klutzy,” he said. “You’d think those 15 years of ballet training would make me this very graceful, elegant person. But I fall on stage semi frequently. I fell last night during the show. I tripped as I was going up the stairs, and I face planted, and I just have to laugh.”

He was hired in the summer of 2023 for the second year of the show’s 25th anniversary tour. He’s loving everything about his turn in both the ensemble and his two scenes as the gavel-banging judge presiding over the trials that turned the femme fatales into media darlings.

Synopsis & relevance

Set in the 1920s era of gangsters, molls and murder, the show’s website describes the plot as “... the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who maliciously murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago’s slickest criminal lawyer to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today’s tabloids.”

That last statement speaks to why the show remains relevant and keeps reeling in audiences on Broadway and on tour.

“I think ‘Chicago’ is a show that is so relevant and timely, especially to our current generation, with social media, and TikTok,” Amrani said. “Everyone wants to be famous, and thinks that they have what it takes to grab the population’s attention, and it’s easier now than ever to do that.

“You see people using whatever it takes, like, ‘any press is good press.’ They'll do bad things because they know it’ll give them attention, and it’s all about what the media is going to put out. And I think it's just so relevant to our day and age — all the politics and seeing all the corruption that’s happening throughout the show. That’s still prevalent today.”

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It helps that the show has dynamite music and explosive choreography, re-imagined for the 1996 Broadway revival by the late Fosse’s muse, Ann Reinking, who died in 2020. Gregory Butler has built on their legacies for the tour’s choreography.

“It’s so memorable,” Amrani said, “and our band is top-notch.”

The musicians are seated onstage, and one of his favorite parts of the show “is just getting to sit and listen to them, because it’s so special to have them on stage with us. Not many other shows have that, and so the band truly is part of our show.

“There are moments when at one point, I’m playing the judge in the courtroom scene, and (with his mic off) I’ll turn around and talk to some of our band members in the middle of it and interact with them because they really are a huge motor in our show.”

Those are unscripted moments where he said he’s “just having fun,” but other moments when the actors interact with the conductor are written into the script.

Viewers around the country are having fun, too.

“The audiences are so responsive,” Amrani said. “They really know the show, I think a lot in part because of the movie. So sometimes, the audience cheering will cut off the announcement leading into the ‘Cell Block Tango,’ because everyone knows what’s coming. And they’re so excited — they love that moment. I love it, too. It’s my favorite part to watch every night. And so overwhelmingly, the audience reactions have just been so incredible.”

He’s hoping they see the parallels bridging the 1920s and 2020s.

“I hope that the audience, first of all, has a good time,” he said, “and that they see a mirror held up to themselves. One of the lines in the show is, ‘In 50 years or so, it’s going to change, you know, though it’s heaven nowadays.’ And I think there’s a lot that has changed — I hope they’ll be able to see that there’s a lot that hasn’t changed.”

Back home

Born in Marseille, France, Amrani’s family moved to Iowa City when he was 2 1/2. Now based in Brooklyn, N.Y, the Iowa City West High School graduate is expecting to see lots of friends and family in the Hancher seats. His mom, Amy Phelps, and former dance teacher Leslie Nolte have both told him they’re going to be at every Hancher performance.

“My mom’s been putting out Facebook posts almost every day, getting all her friends to come,” he said.

It must be working, because the best ticket availability is in the upper balcony for all four performances. A few remaining seats are scattered in the lower balcony, with very few seats left on the main floor and parterre levels.

Amrani performed on the new Hancher stage during his senior year, and is looking forward to sharing the venue with the “Chicago” company.

“It’s gorgeous,” he said of Hancher. “The dressing rooms are beautiful, light, airy — it’s incredible.”

He said Iowa City has changed so much since he left to earn a BFA in musical theater from Texas State University in San Marcos, then moved to New York City two years ago to launch his career. But he still has a favorite spot he’ll recommend to his colleagues during their stay in his hometown.

“The Java House. I’ll tell everyone to go there — not just because I used to work there,” he said. “... I’ll have to make a good list of places to hit up.”

That’s a luxury they don’t always have, since their touring schedule is jammed with back-to-back shows, typically spending a day or two in one location before opening the next night somewhere else.

Life on the road

With the quick turnaround, they generally arrive at their hotel around 3 p.m., then head to the venue two hours ahead of show time for a venue tour, find their dressing rooms, don their mics for a sound check, run a couple of numbers and lines from the show, maybe do a couple of dance lifts, then come together to run “All That Jazz.” They get a 15-minute break before their call to get into costume, and 30 minutes later, it’s curtains up.

It sounds hectic, but Amrani said they “have it down to a science.”

He’s loving his first national road experience, especially when they get to travel by bus for the shorter jaunts. Anything over 500 miles, they fly.

“I honestly love it,” he said of the bus travels. “I’ve seen so many beautiful places that I couldn’t even dream of seeing. Like, we were out west earlier this year, and (the) Oregon, Montana area, it was just beautiful. I was just staring out the window for hours on end.”

He’s contracted through May, but is hoping to continue beyond that.

“I’m having such a blast telling this story and getting to do this iconic choreography every night,” he said.

Being on the road is a bonus.

“I always wanted to tour growing up, because I love traveling — I always loved traveling when I was a kid,” he said. “And so now the fact that I’m getting to travel and perform, and I’m getting paid to do both of those things — it’s literally a dream come true. It’s more than exceeded all of my expectations.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com