Strictly Pro Janette Rocks "Chicago!"

Taking on the iconic role of Roxy Hart in the musical “Chicago”, Janette has come full circle back to her musical theatre roots, leaving everything on the dance floor of course, but also embracing the characterisation of one of the stage’s most evil female murderers and singing her heart out too.

Currently on tour around Great Britain, as well as working hard in her role, Janette is juggling home life with her husband, Strictly professional dancer Aljaz Skorjanec and their beautiful daughter Lyra, who is just 20 months old.

“Lyra loves to dance already,” said Janette, “but she also loves to sing! “She has a lovely little voice too! Aljaz says to her “Mommy’s dancing”, rather than “Mommy’s working” Janette laughed.  

The warmth and love oozes out of Janette when she talks about her family. She is a hard-working, sometimes vulnerable mom, with a friendly, chatty disposition  and just a delight to talk to. One minute into the interview and I felt like I was talking to an old pal.

“Chicago” is one of Janette’s favourite musicals and to play Roxy Hart is a dream. “I started in musical theatre when I was 12; that’s what I did first” she said, “but the dancing took over because I was good at it, so now at the age of 41, to be going into my first ever professional musical and to be playing Roxy Hart means I still pinch myself! I am probably the most annoying cast member because I am just so happy to be there!” she laughed.

Janette loves her character.  “She is really naughty, but that is why we love her!” she laughed! She is a fighter, she has big dreams and she wants more from life than what she has got.  The show starts and we see what she has done to her lover Fred Casely, and then throughout the show we see her learning, growing and picking up bits of information as she goes.  The word I would use to describe Roxy is childlike.  She gets excited and when she is angry she goes all the way, just like children do.  Roxy is a person who is reactive and what she feels, she feels one thousand percent.” 

She continued, “Roxy is such fun to play because when I am happy I can sing the song “Roxy” at the top of my lungs and when I am desperately broken and sad, I can sing “Nowadays.”  She is a phenomenal role.”

“When we see her at the start of the show, she is fighting to get into Vaudeville, which is what she has always wanted and she will do anything she needs to to achieve that dream and I can really relate to that.  I have had to work really hard for everything I have achieved.  Obviously opportunity needs to knock at the door.  One of my favourite quotes is, “when opportunity meets preparation it equals success. You have to be prepared for it and grab it with both hands when it comes.” Wise words Janette. 

“I have watched so many Roxy’s throughout the years, but Renee Zellwegger’s version of Roxy in the movie version I really loved.  She was so incredible, so intelligent, so conniving, and that is hard to play.  If you are too hard, you become Velma and if you are too soft and pretty, you lose the grit that Roxy needs, and Renee had that incredible mix of the two things.”

Janette continued, “Female roles in musical theatre tend to be a lot more classic girl next door. There are not many shows where the two female leads are murderous women!” she laughed!

Janette has worked very hard on her vocals for the role.  “I used to sing when I was a kid, but I wasn’t very good at it; dancing and acting were my strengths, but having done our own shows, myself and Aljaz, where we talk and have banter on stage, I decided a couple of years ago it would be a good idea to work on my singing in case the opportunity ever did come along for me to do a musical. So, I started to sing in our own shows, to practice my singing voice and to get rid of the fear, because the biggest thing with singing is confidence.  You just have to go for it and it will happen.”

She continued, “the voice is a muscle and just like dancing, you need to exercise it to make it stronger and find what style of singing your voice is.  I discovered that my singing voice has a jazzy element to it, so anything which is lower and has that jazz feel, really sits well on my voice.  The songs Roxy sings in “Chicago” are exactly that.”

“Funny Honey” is a breathy, sexy, jazzy song and in “Roxy” she is living her best life, for all the wrong reasons” Janette said, “which again has that jazzy, cool feel.  In fact the whole show, with music from the 1920’s and 1930’s has that jazz vibe, so the songs really suit me.  It has been quite a journey for me to explore my voice.”

Janette continued, “The acting, the singing and being on stage not being myself, but  playing somebody else has meant that I have really enjoyed that.” 

I wondered which of the numbers is Janette’s favourite to perform.  “I love “Roxy”, it is just me on stage.  I don’t want to sound self indulgent but it is because my thought process when I am performing it is “I can’t believe I am doing this.”I am  so grateful and in awe of the magic of being able to play the role and be in musical theatre. For me, it is just a dream come true.  I channel that energy.  It blows me away,” she said.

Janette is very complimentary about her fellow cast members.  

“The cast I am working with is so incredibly talented and every single one of them gives one hundred and fifty percent, whether it is in rehearsal or on stage in front of an audience.  It is a very comfy, warm and supportive environment for me to come into and explore something so new,” Janette said. 

“At the heart of every musical is a really good story and so you need to be able to act to connect with the audience, and this cast is a group of really talented triple threats.  To be on stage with that level of talent is amazing and I feel really privileged actually,” she concluded.

Janette continued, “I have to give a really big mention to Djalenga Scott who is my Velma. She has taken me under her wing. She is like the team leader in the show.  She has been part of the show I think for 18 years, first in the ensemble and then has worked her way up to the role of Velma.  We are the exact same age and are both mothers who are away from our little girls, but we are on stage, living our dreams and we talk all the time about how we are setting an example to our daughters that if you believe in something and you work hard at it, your dreams can come true.  Our husbands are really supportive of us too.”

“It is wonderful to be doing the show with her.  I feel that connection when we do “Nowadays” at the end of the show.  We feel like two super-moms on stage,” Janette laughed!

Fellow Strictly professional, Kevin Clifton is playing Billy Flynn in the show, which is a bonus for Janette to have a close friend on board too .

“Kevin was meant to have finished before I took on the role, but his contract was extended which means I get to do “Chicago” with him.  We have known each other for about 14 or 15 years. It is lovely to be on stage doing something different with Kevin,” she said.

Obviously Bob Fosse’s choreography in the show is unique and legendary, but I wondered just how hard it was to execute.

“It is not physically demanding, so you are not exhausted after the performance, but it is so particular and exact,” said Janette. “Even the shape of the fingers matter, and that I love about it because it is so, so specific. Everybody needs to be in sync and on the same page, moving our bodies as one.”

“The choreography for “Nowadays” the number at the very end of the show has remained the same since it was first created in the 1970s, with very minimal changes made in the 1990’s but essentially you are watching on stage movement that has been created and danced by so many women for over fifty years.  It is amazing to know that you are part of that history of dancing.”

“Fosse really revelled in “the ugly”, said Janette.  “He had turned in feet, he was slightly pigeon-toed and didn’t have great posture, but he took all of that and created style and iconic movements which blow you away.”

Audiences can relax knowing that the black box scenery and staging of the show remains the same as on previous tours, and that the band are on stage.

“They are part of the show, the MD has lines to say and so everything is so connected.” said Janette. “One of my favourite parts of the show is the opening of Act Two when the band have a huge overture.  Oh my God, the music!  They get a huge cheer.  It is just them and it is lovely for the musicians to get some recognition.”

Now a fully adopted Brit, I wondered what Janette missed about home in the USA.  

“My family, I miss them terribly.” she said.  “We are a big Cuban family with lots of cousins and aunts and uncles who are all close.  I wish Lyra had a little more of that, but she is getting something different.  She is being raised in the countryside, whereas I was raised in the city.”

Janette loves Great Britain.  “You have so much beautiful, green, countryside here in the UK.  Aljaz and I have fallen in love with the countryside.  I love London, and we lived there for 11 years,  but I don’t think we will ever go back to city life. To raise a family in the country is amazing.  There is nothing like waking up in the morning and seeing green outside your door.  Lyra wakes up to birds chirping and dew on the grass. We see foxes, deer and sheep.  I love the countryside lifestyle.”

But for now, Janette is leaving the green, open spaces behind and touring from city to city with her favourite musical “Chicago.”   

Catch the show at the Birmingham Alexandra Theatre from April 14-19 and then later in the year at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre. 

For tickets “And All That Jazz!”, visit agttickets.com