Director of the Canberra Theatre Centre, Alex Budd gave the assembled media a quick rundown on Canberra’s cultural history this morning as he launched his biggest coup to date, the crash-hot production of Chicago, which will wind up its national tour at the Canberra Theatre in September.

Reminding us that the best swimmers always have the last lap, Budd praised not just the production, which he said was an exact replica of  Broadway’s Chicago, but also  the phenomenon that was seeing the Canberra Theatre pack-out as producers from around the country test its capacity to take the big shows when the new theatre arrives, also a part of the ACT government’s mission to make Canberra the arts capital of Australia.

The longest-running show currently playing on Broadway, Chicago, originally  created by John Kander, Fred Ebb and choreographer Bob Fosse, includes numbers such as Cell Block Tango and Razzle Dazzle and When You’re Good to Mama.

Set in the 1920s, it’s the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her 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 Billy Flynn to transform a sordid slaying into a barrage of sensational headlines.

Musical theatre legend, Anthony Warlow, plays the charismatic Billy Flynn. Zoë Ventoura, daughter of QL2 Dance’s director Ruth Osborne, plays Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart is played by Lucy Maunder, with comedian Peter Rowsthorn playing her hapless husband, the “Cellophane Man”, Amos.

Asabi Goodman plays prison warden Matron Mama Morton, S. Valeri plays crime reporter Mary Sunshine, while the group of ensemble and swings include former Canberran, Hayden Baum.

On hand for the launch at Molly’s Speakeasy in Civic was Lucy Maunder, whose Canberra credentials suited Budd’s morning narrative.

Her father Stuart Maunder, now artistic director of Victorian Opera, cut his teeth as a young stage manager and director here. He met Lucy’s mother in Canberra, too. He later returned to direct for the boutique opera company, Stopera, which Budd co-founded, before rising through the ranks of Opera Australia.

Lucy, for her part, couldn’t have been more pleased to be playing Roxy, as she leaned on the bar with Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Budd playing bartenders – it seemed like a cue for the show-stopper, All That Jazz.

Chicago, Canberra Theatre Centre, from September 7.