Forget the Boston buzz, hail to Chicago jazz!

WHILE the buzz around town was about Boston -- as Musharraf’s next and possibly, permanent residence following his resignation -- this past week, it is ‘Chicago’ that has traipsed into the federal capital and into the hearts of the beholders.

The theatre scene in Islamabad does not yet enjoy the kind of permanence for it to stand scrutiny by the connoisseurs say, like your average weekend fare in the Old Blighty but it is hotting up.

In so doing, it has certainly established the fact beyond doubt that the entertainment-starved denizens of the capital will take a half-a-chance to be where the action is.

In the last four years or so, the bold and the beautiful have been trying to pitch their wares regardless of the odds.

Despite the lack of reliable resource -- whether that is down to lack of academies, sustained official encouragement or assured private sponsorship -- these trailblazing individuals have been at work like men, and the odd woman, possessed.

Theatre has been around in Islamabad in some form since 1990 but it would be an exaggeration to suggest it was an earnest effort at setting a trend or contributing to meaningful drama.

Most such endeavours were previously undertaken at the behest of non-governmental organisations trying to take their activism to the next level -- a noble intent no doubt but not necessarily for the love of theatre per se.

Other than that the entertainment was confined to Islamabad’s elite -- for people wanting to have some fun on the go without any passion for a decidedly, challenging expression of art.

German Goethe Institute and French cultural centre Alliance Francaise have done their bit to diversify the capital’s theatre spectrum by bringing their own performers but the foreign affair has been like the proverbial Eid moon -- seen only once in a while. The magnificent heralding of Shah Sharabeel’s The Phantom of the Opera in 2004 and Dracula went a long way in raising the ‘local’ profile. These were followed by the same director’s Moulin Rouge, Raja Ziaul Haq’s Count of Monte Cristo and Ghazala Siddiqui’s Beauty and the Beast -- all in 2005.

Sharabeel shown again with You Only Marry Twice in 2006 before Tülin Khalid made a statement with Freedom Bound — and not just with its fantastic title.

Sharabeel has dominated the scene with other productions like Dally in the Dark and Bombay Dreams as well but it has only helped induce competition.

Osman Khalid Butt’s directorial debut Some Like It Hot in 2007 was a superb blend of stagecraft, skill and imagination. Usama Qazi is not new to the stage with at least two major productions -- It Runs in the Family in 2006 and The Addams Family in 2007 -- to his credit.

But, his debut as director with the cheesy musical Chicago, which arrived in the federal capital on August 13 at the Islamabad Club auditorium (and will continue till the end of this month), is a fine attempt by a largely amateur cast to make the grade.

The lack of experience was nowhere in evidence in what was a nearly, flawless performance.

Emulating the 1975 Broadway production that ran for a mammoth 936 weeks would have tested the best, leave alone a large assembly of wannabe stars coming together for the first time. But this emerging talent of e-360, a production house led by Usama Qazi, has proved its mettle.

It is hard to believe, for instance, that the female lead Xunaira Tariq is a newcomer -- she has only just finished A-levels at BMI and is an aspiring lawyer. Playing Roxie Hart, Xunaira left a lasting impression and carried the show pretty well on her slender shoulders. She is a great find for the future.

Choreographer Fauzia Mehmood, who doubled up as Velma Kelly, the criminal celebrity of the day, was also on top of her game as was the endearing Salma Dilawar Mir as Matron Mama Morton.

But no one could quite match the irrepressible Saud Umar Khan (manipulative lawyer Billy Flynn) — the lone experienced star in Chicago who won critical acclaim for his prowess in The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula and Count of Monte Cristo. His performance simply begged to be recognised as world class.

Chicago may have been inspired by all that jazz — literally, one of the many song-and-dance routine in the play — and therefore, a delight to watch but it also added value to the genre of serious theme-based theatre.

Do not miss the arty expression of an era gone by, if you are in town.

The writer is News Editor at Dawn News. He may be contacted at kaamyabi@gmail.com