Great Basin College Theatre

GBC Theater and Overland Stage Brings Chicago to Elko!

Chicago the Musical hits the GBC Theatre March 13-15 and March 20-22, 2025! Shows are at 7:00 pm every night with special matinee performances as well on March 15 and 22 at 2:00 pm.

Chicago is a satirical American musical that premiered on Broadway in 1975, with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in the 1920s in Chicago, it's based on a 1926 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, who drew inspiration from real-life crimes she covered as a journalist. The story follows Roxie Hart, a housewife and aspiring performer who murders her lover and then manipulates the media and legal system to avoid conviction, alongside Velma Kelly, a vaudeville star in a similar predicament. It's a sharp commentary on fame, corruption, and the jazz-age obsession with sensationalism.

The original production, directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, ran for 936 performances and was well-received but overshadowed by A Chorus Line at the time. It wasn't until the 1996 Broadway revival—staged in a minimalist, vaudeville-inspired style by director Walter Bobbie and choreographer Ann Reinking—that it became a cultural juggernaut. That revival's still running today, making it the longest-running American musical in Broadway history, with over 11,000 performances as of early 2025. It won six Tony Awards in 1997, including Best Musical Revival.

The score's a standout—jazzy, brassy, and full of bangers like "All That Jazz," "Cell Block Tango," and "Razzle Dazzle." The 2002 film adaptation, directed by Rob Marshall and starring Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere, brought it to an even wider audience, winning six Oscars, including Best Picture.

Purchase your tickets today at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chicago-tickets-1207820426409?aff=oddtdtcreator.

For more information, visit Overland Stage Theatre Company on FaceBook at
https://www.facebook.com/overlandstage.

Who We Are and What We Do!

The Great Basin College Theater has been transforming the American Theatre Experience since 1996. As part of the Great Basin College Arts and Letters Department, students and faculty join together for enlightened experiences of fine arts, humanities, English, foreign language and communication. The programs are critical components of every academic and training degree program offered by the college.

GBC Theatre offers courses in acting, oral interpretation, stage voice, movement for the stage, theatre technology, dramatic analysis and more. Special Topic courses are added to the schedule regularly, generally taking advantage of the specific skills GBC Theatre’s many guest artists and instructors can provide. In the past, courses in playwrighting, armature, effects makeup, Suzuki Movement Training, stage combat and comedy improv have been offered.

As the mission of Great Basin College has expanded, so has its reach. The college service area now includes more than half of Nevada’s seventeen counties, covers 80% of Nevada’s geographical area, and serves five percent of the state’s total population. It’s a big state, and Great Basin College intends to educate it. Using state of the art distance learning technologies, students in even the furthest reaches of Nevada will have equitable access to the opportunities higher education has been providing to their urban counterparts for decades. It requires fierce commitment from the college and creates a tremendous opportunity for the entire state of Nevada.

GBC theatre now offers almost all of its courses using distance-learning technologies. By combining traditional theatre teaching techniques with advanced technologies, students are accessing a learning experience with seasoned theatre professionals that heretofore had not even been conceived. And, what’s more, they are being prepared for the theatre of today. Added to other fine arts and humanities courses already offered with distance technologies, and it is easy understand why Great Basin College is recognized as one of the most efficient and innovative colleges in the state.

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For More Information Contact

John Patrick Rice Ph.D.
Director of Theatre
Great Basin College
Phone: 775.327.2249
john.rice@gbcnv.edu

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Why Great Basin College

Great Basin College, "The Gold Standard in the Silver State", offers associate and baccalaureate level education in academic, career and technical fields. Welcoming over 4,000 students annually from all corners of the country, both online and at our various campuses and centers, GBC's presence extends across two time zones and spans more than 86,000 square miles throughout Nevada. A leader in rural higher education, GBC takes pride in developing students who are well-prepared to meet the demands of industry and who contribute to the success and prosperity of the local economy.