![]() ![]() Renée Zellweger, Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the Oscar-winning 2002 film. Meanwhile, one has at least in theory to approve of Richard Gere, twinkling away as Billy Flynn. The fact that neither sings particularly well is a limitation that, perversely, helps the film overcome its tendency towards tiresome slickness, as does John C Reilly as Amos, Roxie’s faithful but terminally dull husband – and the heart of the movie. There is something almost amateurish about how nakedly Zeta Jones seems to identify with her character – I mean that in a good way – while Zellweger, the superior actor, plays her character as half winsome, half unhinged. Like a lot of people, I came to the show via Rob Marshall’s 2002 movie, in which Catherine Zeta Jones plays Velma and Renée Zellweger is Roxie. “Murder’s a form of entertainment,” says a character at one point. “The message was potent right then.” The message is that no corner of American life is exempt from corruption, and the satire is as subtle as a sledgehammerĬhicago’s message is broad – balanced on the homily that no corner of American life is exempt from corruption – and the satire is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. “You just didn’t know if life was imitating art or art was imitating life,” says Ann Reinking, the dancer who played Roxie in 1977 and again during the revival, which she choreographed in Fosse’s style. Its initial popularity may have had something to do with the fact that it opened in the aftermath of the OJ Simpson trial. But it was the 1996 revival that really caught fire. Chicago was well received when it opened on Broadway in 1975, running for two years and a respectable 936 performances. I think being allowed to make art and see it through to its completion is an extraordinary piece of luck.” Not that you don’t feel lucky if a piece works, or sad if it doesn’t, but I tend to move on. RAZZLE DAZZLE CHICAGO WINDOWS“I should get my windows cleaned! It sounds corny, but the excitement lies in doing it. “Really?” he says, over the phone from his apartment in Manhattan, when I mention that Chicago has now made over $1 billion worldwide. On the question of why Chicago is still popular four decades on, he is somewhat mystified. But John Kander, at 90, continues to work – most recently, on an off-Broadway production of his new musical, The Beast in the Jungle. Bob Fosse, who co-wrote the book and choreographed, died in 1987, and Fred Ebb in 2004. It probably helps that – unlike Liza Minnelli and Cabaret, another Kander and Ebb musical – Chicago is less emphatically associated with a single star or song. RAZZLE DAZZLE CHICAGO FREEAnd yet, when you revisit John Kander and Fred Ebb’s songs, you are reminded of how Chicago floats free from both its mid-1970s inception and its 1990s revival in a way that rescues it from nostalgia. The fishnets, the backbends and the formation dancing are so engrained in our ideas of what showbiz is, they risk running into cliche or kitsch. It brings with it that strange combination of the familiar and the modern. In short, Velma razzle dazzles.Cuba Gooding Jr as Billy Flynn in the forthcoming West End revival.Ĭhicago is still playing on Broadway and returns to London’s West End this spring, after a six-year hiatus, with Cuba Gooding Jr as Billy Flynn, the lawyer who defends both women. ![]() Her voice is power packed – every line crystal clear. She doesn’t skip a beat while doing those ‘buwis buhay’ calisthenics on the wooden chair and singing at the same time. Her nimble feet land on the floor just at the right time. Cellophane,” the weakling who lets people and situations run his life.īut Velma is clearly the star of the show. Jacob Watson as Roxie’s husband Amos Hart turns in a sterling performance as “Mr. The setting of “Chicago” is just as showbiz – complete with press conferences and paparazzi hounding Roxie everywhere she goes.Īlthough the story is based on the real-life trials of two women, the make-believe feeling doesn’t wane because most everything happens within the confines of the theater.īut it might as well be politics, where intrigues are deadlier (yes, political maneuverings can kill). ![]() Velma just seethes in her wooden, straight-back chair. RAZZLE DAZZLE CHICAGO MOVIEUnlike the iconic Lavinia character in the movie “Bituing Walang Ningning” who told Dorina, “You’re nothing but a second-rate, trying hard copycat, Velma doesn’t throw wine on Roxie's face. You know Mama is decrying crass ambition that drives newbies to do everything – however foul – to be a star. ![]()
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