Laurie Reijs in Chicago - Medley Act 2

Laurie Reijs (born 12 May 1980) is a Dutch Musical Singer who has one of the greatest stage presences I've ever saw in my life. In the tour version of the Dutch Revival from the musical "CHICAGO" (2009-2010) she understudied both principal roles: Roxie Hart (normally played by Mariska van Kolck) and Velma Kelly (normally played by Joke de Kruijf).

Especially her performances as Velma Kelly were reviewed by the audiences as fantastic. For a lot of fans she was a better Velma then 1st cast Joke de Kruijf (although I did like her too, she gave a special twist to the role of Velma, and you could love it or hate it).

In this video you can hear Laurie singing both parts (recorded from different shows when she was on for Velma OR Roxie, of course). It contains pieces of the following songs of ACT 2:
* Me and My Baby (Ik en M'n Baby)
* When Velma Takes The Stand (Als Velma Straks Getuigt)
* The Trial (Het Proces)
* Class (Stijl)
* Nowadays (Onze Tijd)
* Hot Honey Rag / Finale

A funny thing to know is that Laurie was the only Velma in the Netherlands who did the carthweel at the end of 'Hot Honey Rag'.

In the 1st Dutch production, back in 1999, Pia Douwes played the part of Velma Kelly, and she could do the cartwheel (she also did it at the end of 'I Can't Do It Alone') but Simone Kleinsma, who was the first Dutch Roxie Hart, couldn't do it. Also Sophia Wezer, who had took over the role of Velma after Pia Douwes left, didn't do the carthweel, cause her opponents (Simone Kleinsma or Ellen Evers as Roxie) couldn't do it.

In this revival tour in 2009-2010 Joke de Kruijf played Velma, but she didn't do the carthweel either (so she also didn't at the end of 'I Can't Do It Alone'). Mariska van Kolck, who played Roxie, could do it, so when Laurie was on for Velma they did do the carthweel. And those were rather unique performances, I think. In the video of Act 2 you can hear the audience go loud at the end of Honey Rag, cause Laurie and Mariska danced it perfectly in the original (Ann Reinking inspired by Bob Fosse) routine. Absolutely love them both!

Recordings are from 25.02.2010 (Laurie played Roxie) and 22.05.2010 (Laurie's last show as Velma).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Laurie
• Reijs
• Chicago
• musical
• dutch
• revival
• tour
• 2010
• velma
• kelly
• roxie
• hart
• joke
• de
• kruijf
• mariska
• van
• kolck
• understudy