Results: Chicago - the musical
Published on 12/09/2023
Going from 1930's Berlin in my last stage musical entry to Chicago 1928, we trade the cabaret for vaudeville, jazz and crime. Based on a 1926 play of the same name, it was made into a musical in 1975, by John Kander with lyrics by Frank Ebb and Bob Fosse. Give 'em the old razzle dazzle...
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Background / story - Maurine Dallas Watkins (pictured) was an American playwright and screenwriter who had a brief stint before that as a journalist for the Chicago Tribune covering actual criminal cases. Beulah Annan was the basis for the fictional Roxie Hart in the play who's tossed in jail for murdering her lover which she tries to convince her husband Amos was a burglar. Enter lawyer Billy Flynn, who turns her case into a media circus. Ever seen Chicago, the musical?
Yes - have seen it live on stage or the later film version.
21%
472 votes
No - I have not.
56%
1240 votes
N/A - not into stage musicals, etc.
22%
488 votes
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Cell Block Tango - while in jail overseen by "Mama" Morton, Roxy meets Velma and assorted other women each accused of killing their lovers. I rather like the tune for it's darkly funny humor and sexy undertones of a tango. Speaking of which, do you know how to dance tango, or tried?
Yes - I can tango, and consider myself pretty good at it.
6%
130 votes
Yes - tried, but not tripping the floor like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.
17%
366 votes
N/A - never attempted, can't dance my way out of a wet paper bag, etc.
77%
1704 votes
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3.
We Both Reached for the Gun - never seen Chicago performed live, but the 2002 flick turns the court case into into a ventriloquist / marionette act with Billy in control of it all. Quite a fun number musically and visually I like. Ever seen either such puppet act in person?
Yes, I have seen at least one or the other.
17%
364 votes
No - can't say I've seen a ventriloquist / marionette act in person, though maybe in shows or movies (The Sound of Music, for example).
51%
1113 votes
Not Applicable
33%
723 votes
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The movie - as stated, Chicago got made into 2002 film directed by Rob Marshall. Renée Zellweger is Roxy, with Catherine Zeta-Jones as Velma and Richard Gere as Billy. Queen Latifah and John C. Reilly round out the cast as Mama Morton and Amos. It won six Oscars, including best picture and supporting actress (Zeta-Jones). And after all that razzle dazzle, what do you think about the media three-ring circus?
Meh, been around as long as there has been media, nothing new about it.
14%
310 votes
Have to say, gets a bit tiresome, what happened to "just the facts, ma'am?"
14%
299 votes
Seems a bit unscrupulous at times, smoke and mirrors.
10%
227 votes
Some combo of the above, or some other comment in replies.
14%
305 votes
Not Applicable
54%
1185 votes
COMMENTS