'CHICAGO' STILL MAKES FOR A TIMELY TREAT.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

MARTHA STEWART is mulling over ideas for her new reality show from inside a federal penitentiary. Michael Jackson is mobbed by fans each day at the courthouse where he is on trial for child molestation.

Stanley ``Tookie'' Williams, a repentant gang member on Death Row, recently saw his story turned into a fairly sympathetic TV movie.

It's all proof that ``Chicago,'' John Kander & Fred Ebb's 1975 musical about 1920s criminals with star status, always will be in vogue.

``Chicago'' is in for a three-week stint at the Pantages in Hollywood with the added marquee value of Grammy winner Patti LaBelle as the wheeling and dealing prison matron.

Stage and TV veteran Gregory Harrison, who has played wily attorney Billy Flynn on Broadway and the national tour, showed himself to be a real trouper, flying to Los Angeles from Oregon Wednesday in time for opening night. Improv legend Wayne Brady, just off his New York run in the role, had to bow out of the Los Angeles dates at the last minute because of vocal strain.

The genuine razzle dazzle in this production, though, comes from Bianca Marroquin as Roxie Hart and Brenda Braxton as Velma Kelly, the roles played on the big screen by Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Braxton grabs the spotlight from the beginning with ``All That Jazz'' and is shown up only when she shares it with Marroquin, a Mexican stage veteran who moves with ease through Roxie's highs and lows as she faces her murder trial. Her ventriloquist dummy routine with Harrison in ``We Both Reached for the Gun'' is brilliantly executed, and she charms the crowd with ``Me and My Baby.''

P.J. Benjamin may or may not be flattered to read that he is just about perfect as Amos, the soft, milquetoast husband of Roxie. He somehow stops the show with his mild-mannered delivery of the low-self-esteem anthem, ``Mister Cellophane.''

Harrison oozes charm and has the mellow vocals for Flynn, but one wishes choreographer Ann Reinking had given his character more moves.

LaBelle is on foreign ground in acting her part, as are many seasoned TV actors when called upon to sing. But she truly made ``When You're Good to Mama'' her own, to the thrill of Wednesday's audience, and paired well with Braxton on ``Class.''

It's good to see the band in full view where the musicians' artistry - and even their presence itself - can be appreciated. One musician on his way to the theater expressed his delight in working on a show with a full complement of musicians instead of synthesizers, as is becoming the norm with road companies.

Valerie Kuklenski, [phone]

valerie.kuklenski(at)dailynews.com

CHICAGO - Three stars

Where: Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday; through Feb. 20.

Tickets: $25 to $102.50. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: Kander & Ebb's frisky jazz-age musical is as timely as ever in its look at fleeting notoriety.