| SENSATIONAL! By: Evan Gillespie - WhatzUp! Magazine The history of Chicago, the musical, is almost as rich and storied as that of the city from which it draws its name. The show created by director/choreographer Bob Fosse uses his flashy style to make the delightfully seedy underworld of 1920s Chicago seems as glamorous as glittery Broadway. The formula works; Fosse's 1975 production enjoyed a successful run on the Great White Way and inspired a contemporary revival that has achieved even greater success. The whole thing began back in 1926, when a young reporter for the Chicago Tribune decided to try her hand at writing a play. Maurine Dallas Watkins was something of a pioneer when she began writing for the paper in 1924; she was assigned to cover the crime beat (which was a pretty happenin' gig in Chicago in those days) in order to bring a "feminine perspective" to the Tribune's reportage. She was good at her job; in one of her biggest triumphs, she managed to secure an interview with legendary murderers Leopold and Loeb. Watkins' quest for that "feminine perspective" led her to a fascination with two women, Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner, who were on trial for killing their boyfriends. Annan reportedly played a fox trot on her husband's phonograph while she watched her lover die, and Gaertner claimed that she had been too drunk on gin to remember killing her boyfriend. The cases were the stuff of sensational journalism, and the circus atmosphere surrounding the trials made an impression on Watkins. When she left the Tribune to study drama at Yale, she wrote Chicago as a class assignment. It was the story of Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, two sultry and manipulative murderesses who become celebrities thanks to an eager press and Billy Flynn, an opportunistic lawyer. Watkins got the highest grade in her class, and by the end of 1926, Chicago was playing on Broadway. The controversy surrounding the play (a Yale divinity professor called it "vile, immoral and blasphemous" but admitted that it accurately depicted life in Chicago) ensured that the show would sell lots of tickets. It ran for 172 performances on Broadway, and it was adapted to film in 1927. In 1942, the story was once again put on film, this time as Roxie Hart starring Ginger Rogers. Watkins, unfortunately, was unable to match the success of her first theatrical effort, and she faded into obscurity. But Chicago lived on. Of course, a story as sexy and sensational as Chicago couldn't escape the interest of the man who made a career of perfecting sex and sensationalism on Broadway, Bob Fosse. He began to dream of a musical version of Chicago as early as the mid-50s, but it was 1975 before the show opened. For the songs, Fosse turned to the duo of John Kander and Fred Ebb, who had already conquered Broadway with Cabaret and Zorba (and who would go on to write music for such hits as Woman of the Year and Kiss of the Spider Woman). The original cast of Fosse's Chicago featured Chita Rivera as Velma, Gwen Verdon as Roxie Hart and Jerry Orbach as Billy Flynn. When Verdon had to leave the show for a few weeks to undergo surgery, Liza Minelli took on the role of Roxie for a brief (and unbilled) stint. When Verdon left the show for good, she was replaced by Fosse protegÈ Ann Reinking. Finally in 1977, Chicago closed on Broadway after 898 performances, and the company took the show on the road. In the two decades after the opening of Fosse's Chicago, the show became a trademark of the director's flamboyant approach. The show's cynical satire of sex and celebrity was what Fosse did best, and one of the show's numbers, "All That Jazz," even provided the title for Fosse's musical biography. In 1996, nearly two decades after Fosse's show opened and a full seven decades after the debut of Watkins' original, Chicago returned to Broadway. This time director Walter Bobbie was at the helm of a show that was not only a dazzling tale of crime but a tribute to Fosse. Reinking was on hand to design the choreography in the blatantly sexy style of Fosse. What was once a biting look at contemporary culture had been transformed into a darkly humorous, if somewhat nostaligc, satire in the 70s and had come full-circle back to wry criticism of 90s tabloid TV journalism. And just as it did in the 20s, all that sex and crime sold well in the 90s. Just four months after the revival opened on Broadway, a national touring company opened in Cincinnati. Within the next three years, Chicago would begin runs in London, Melbourne, Vienna, Tokyo and Las Vegas. The show wasn't just a hit with audiences, either. The Broadway production of Chicago raked in awards, clearly dominating the 1997 Tony Awards (Best Musical Revival, Best Director, Best Choreographer, Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Lighting), and the original cast soundtrack recording won a Grammy in 1998. The touring and London companies earned their share of acclaim as well. Throughout its history, Chicago has been characterized by outstanding performances. The original cast of the revival featured Bebe Neuwirth (best known to television audiences as Lilith from "Cheers" and "Frasier") as Velma Kelly, and she played to rave reviews during the show's first year. After a nearly complete recasting in 1998, German cabaret actress Ute Lemper, who had been playing Velma in the London production, moved to Broadway. In the shadow of Neuwirth, Lemper drew mixed reviews, but the actress who stepped into the role of Roxie Hart, Broadway veteran Karen Ziemba, received nothing but praise. Other notable cast members have included Joel Grey as Roxie's dupe of a husband, and Jasmine Guy (who also received lukewarm notices) as Velma in the touring company. Just this week, the Broadway production has been recast to include television star Sharon Lawrence ("Ladies Man," "NYPD Blue") as Velma and Charlotte d'Amboise, who was impressive in the original touring cast, as Roxie. On the road with Chicago now are a stable of actresses and actors with an impressive list of credits from Broadway and elsewhere. Roxanne Carrasco (Velma) is a native of Los Angeles who has appeared in A Chorus Line in Europe, Canada and L.A. and a national tour of West Side Story. Tracy Shayne (Roxie) is no stranger to big time footlights; she has appeared as Christine in Phantom of the Opera and Cosette in Les Miserables on Broadway. She's been directed by heavyweights Hal Prince and Trevor Nunn, and she was featured on the Grammy-winning recording of Les Miserables. Ray Bokhour (Amos Hart) is a composer who's been seen in a number of television roles ("Third Watch," "The Expert," "Young Indiana Jones Chronicles"), and Carol Woods (Matron "Mama" Morton) has appeared on Broadway in Smokey Joe's Cafe, The Goodbye Girl, Big River, Stepping Out, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and The Crucible, among others. When Maurine Watkins wrote Chicago, she no doubt realized that the rest of the country would be interested in the seamier side of the City of Big Shoulders, but she probably didn't anticipate that it would become a global theatrical sensation. The show has earned $100 million dollars on Broadway, and when the receipts from the London, Las Vegas, Holland, Berlin, Sweden, Australia and U.S. touring productions are added in, the gross comes to an astounding $334 million -- a total that is usually reserved for projects with Steven Spielberg's name attached to them -- and Chicago isn't finished with its quest for world domination. Productions in Buenos Aires and Lisbon are in the works, too. It's now been almost 74 years since Chicago opened on Broadway, and if anything, it seems more relevant now than it did in the 20s. That's not bad for a homework assignment by a newspaper reporter. |