By Kai Curry
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Andy Chen (Courtesy of Andy Chen and “Chicago: The Musical”)
It was just two years ago that Andy Chen was sitting in the audience of the Broadway hit, “Chicago,” wondering how, or if, he could ever be a part of something like that.
“We had nosebleed seats,” Chen recalled of he and his brother, who went to see the show in California. “I remember sitting in the balcony…and thinking to myself, that couldn’t be me.” Three months later, Chen was hired as Associate Music Director for the “Chicago” national tour. Today, Chen is the Music Director for the tour, which arrived in Seattle on Oct. 22.
The Asian Weekly spoke to Chen about how the fulfillment of this dream came about.
“Chicago” is the longest-running American musical in Broadway history. Many know it from the 2002 movie, starring Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta Jones, which was described as a “musical Black comedy crime film.” The plot about two Jazz Age murderers on death row has been around since 1926, when a reporter wrote a play inspired by a true story. The original musical, which took to the stage in 1975, was choreographed by Bob Fosse, a jazz dance legend.
“‘Chicago’ is this mainstay in the musical theater canon and you can’t really become educated in musical theater without becoming aware of ‘Chicago,’ its legacy, and the iconic aspects of it,” said Chen. For these reasons, “Chicago,” in a way, comes to the crew ready-made, and yet, every production changes a little bit, Chen believes, due to the changing nature of those that put it together.
“This revival of ‘Chicago’ is the same all around the world, except where it is completely different,” said Chen, who has a talent for a witty turn of phrase. For Chen, every show, including “Chicago,” is built on the strengths and talents of the people in the room, or the “bodies,” which is how Chen aptly describes a cast that carries out a lot of dance movement.
How did all of this take place for Chen, still young and new in the industry, fresh out of college? A jack of many things music, theater, and writing related, Chen has a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Rochester; a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Music Education from Eastman School of Music; and, in part, because he thought he would not do more than teach, he went ahead and knocked out a Master of Music at Arizona State University. “Theater was the undercurrent and synthesis of everything I was interested in and enjoyed doing,” Chen told the Asian Weekly. A teacher since college graduation in 2020, smack in the middle of the pandemic, when most teaching was hybrid, Chen fell in love with music theater during his graduate studies, and switched his concentration to music direction/conducting.
Growing up in Queensbury, New York, Chen was always involved in the music program at his school. He also took piano and violin lessons. Chen best describes himself as first generation, born in the U.S. of Taiwanese parents who immigrated to upstate New York, a beautiful yet mostly white region. Visibly, Chen realized he was on the fringe, yet he always felt supported by his neighbors, whom he described as very welcoming. Being raised in this environment taught Chen to see the people around him not by way of divisive differences, but by way of the belief that we are all humans, with unique stories, and many shared values and dreams. Nevertheless, it did take some time for Chen to see himself, an Asian body, in music theater, “filling these roles and being up on a big bandstand, waving my arms, and making things happen.”
Cell Block Tango (Credit: Jeremy Daniel)
Organically, serendipitously, Chen found his way to a place where he thrives. In 2023, he saw a listing for a pianist and associate conductor with “Chicago.” He put in his name, prepared his audition material, and was hired, two weeks before rehearsal started. Summer of 2025, the then-music director and conductor announced they would not be returning, and asked Chen if he would be interested in moving up. The rest is history in the making.
While “Chicago” may have its songs, its dance, its plot well developed, Chen makes sure that his direction showcases the strengths of the people on the stage. “Yes, the broad stroke framework and creative decisions have been made,” he acknowledged. He knows that his main job is to honor the decisions of his predecessors and of the show’s music supervisor, Broadway legend, Robert Fisher. What Chen adds is his particular emphasis on making sure that “everything is telling the story”: every decision, every detail. Because of this outlook, for example, Chen might balance a musical chord a little bit differently than someone who came before him. Ultimately, his goal is to facilitate a story that reaches the audience and moves something in their hearts.
Chen is the youngest of three children. He described his family as a “happy bunch.” His parents have owned a gift shop in Lake George, New York, for Chen’s entire life. Chen helped his parents in the shop during his summers growing up. Through his parents’ example, Chen learned the meaning of how hard a person could work to support themselves, their family, and their goals. Chen currently splits his time between New York and, of all places, Chicago, where his partner lives. He loves cats, although he is allergic to them, and while he does sing as part of his job—to help the actors, or formerly, his students, shape their voices, it’s nothing anyone should have to hear, he joked. Because the nature of the theater world is ever-changing, Chen has several irons in the fire, including some remote music copy work and engraving for friends and family. He writes poetry, mainly for himself, as a “feed the soul endeavor” whenever he feels moved and wants to reinvest in himself as an individual and as an artist. He may or may not publish one day.
Chen believes strongly in inclusion. He has seen different groups marginalized for one reason or another, not always maliciously, and sometimes even doing it to themselves because “they didn’t think themselves capable of something,” he said. While Asians are not a monolith, he believes that any Asian and any person can benefit from getting out in the world, finding out what’s out there. As his own experience has taught him, “you may not know what you’re capable of, of all that’s possible, and of the spaces that could exist for you, but I promise that they are out there.”
When it comes to this current production of “Chicago,” Chen confidently proclaims that there is not a “dud” in the show. There’s something beautiful about every aspect of “Chicago,” Chen believes. “‘Chicago’ is a classic. It’s been around for a while for a reason: it has something to say. It’s a beautiful show, with beautiful people, inside and out. It is never not worth your time.”
“Chicago” plays at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle until Nov. 2.
For tickets, go to stgpresents.org.
Kai can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.
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