New-look `Chicago' struts to town

"You wear a $4,000 tux and you have great [Kander and Ebb] music -- Billy's songs in particular --and you're surrounded by beautiful, long-legged women . . . with fans," Harrison says, laughing, on the phone from Toronto. "It's really hard to be bad."

The other actors are fun, too, Harrison says. He and Brenda Braxton, who plays Velma, performed in the Broadway production, and other cast members have toured in it. "Everyone is familiar with it," he says. "It makes for a really steamy energy that was there in the first day of rehearsal."

Many audience members will have seen the movie version of the show and may have Richard Gere fixed in their heads as Billy Flynn. Harrison doesn't care.

"I'm not like him," Harrison says. "And I'm not doing anything like his interpretation. I've seen the show with about four other casts, and one Billy was black, another was 20 years older than me. They all work. This part and this show can handle so many interpretations. It just goes to show how solidly the foundation of this show is built."

"Chicago" plays at the Wang Theatre from Nov. 4 to 9. Call Telecharge at 800-447-7400, or visit www.wangcenter.org.

`Brel' in limbo "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" will be alive and well on Stuart Street soon, promises one of the producers, Rita A. Fucillo.

The show, which features some of the same actors who did "Brel" at Gloucester Stage earlier this year, was supposed to begin previews on Tuesday. But because of licensing issues -- the Radisson Hotel's 57 Restaurant is being transformed into a 199-seat cabaret space, and this is the initial show -- the opening has been delayed. "We are currently in a `soft' opening state, says Fucillo. "The cast has been performing since Tuesday in unpaid productions. We've been filling the house with guests and friends, and we've taken full advantage of working in front of a crowd."

Because of the licensing issues, the producers have not even been able to publicize the show (and no, you can't drop in on one of the unpaid previews). But the ad campaign is ready, the tickets are waiting to be sold, and the actors are warmed up. When the producers get the green light from the city, which they expect soon, the show will have some official previews before a press opening -- scheduled for next Friday night. "We'll shout the news from the rooftops," promises Fucillo.

Music to their ears Young Audiences of Massachusetts is a 40-year-old statewide organization that introduces children to the arts through opera, classical music, and portrayals of historical figures. Like many arts groups, it has been hit hard by the economy's slowdown and the reduction in state and local budgets for schools. The organization's big fund-raiser, the "Arty Party: A Kaleidoscope of the Arts," is Thursday at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, and sales of the $175 tickets have been going slowly. So if you want to help ensure that there will be a next generation of musicians and an audience for music, opera, and theater, sign up at 617-629-9262, ext. 26.

A happy reunion Storyteller and writer Jay O'Callahan teams with John Langstaff, founder of the popular "Revels," for a concert at 3 p.m. Sunday at the First Parish Unitarian Church in Brookline. The friends will present songs and stories on similar themes. This will be a rare opportunity to hear the 82-year-old Langstaff sing. For tickets, call 781-837-0962.

Theater benefit If you ever wanted to see many of Boston's top actors, comics, and singers in one place, the benefit performance of Charles Busch's "Vampire Lesbians of Sodom" on Sunday at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway in Davis Square may be your ticket. Participants include: Chris and Dave Walsh, Barlow Adamson, Larry Coen, John Kuntz, Karen MacDonald, Kathy St. George, Bobbie Steinbach, and many more. Kevin Fennessy, a Cambridge casting agent who is head of the campy Raven Theatrical Company, is holding the benefit to revive Raven, which lost its space in 1998. Call 617-591-1616 for information.

Notes of note

The SpeakEasy Stage/Sugan Theatre coproduction of "A Man of No Importance" will be extended through Nov. 16 at the Boston Center for the Arts. . . . Stoneham's production of the musical "The Girl in the Frame" is extending through Nov. 15. . . . Stacy Keach will appear as Mr. Scrooge in the Trinity Repertory Theatre production of "A Christmas Carol" that will run Dec. 9-27 at the Cutler Majestic.

Catherine Foster can be reached at foster@globe.com