How Does Me and My Baby Chicago Theme
'Chicago' Pops the Cork on 25 Years of Razzle Dazzle
Bebe Neuwirth, Joel Grey, Chita Rivera, John Kander and others discuss the Broadway revival's surprising early success and its lasting legacy.
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When "Chicago" had its debut in 1975 no i expected information technology to become the longest-running American musical in Broadway history.
The reviews were mixed. Walter Kerr wrote that it was "altogether too heavy to let the slender, foolish story breathe." And though the show had a 2-year run, it was dwarfed in touch on by "A Chorus Line."
It "seemed too chilly, in those days, to be truly loved," Ben Brantley wrote two decades later on, reflecting on the prove's themes of "murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery."
But and then came the "Encores!" production, in 1996 at Metropolis Center, a streamlined reworking that bubbled "like vintage Champagne," Brantley wrote.
The delirious reception to the concert staging was "similar ice cubes down your back," John Kander, the musical's composer, recalled recently. "The original production was not exactly what y'all'd call a blockbuster."
That four-nighttime concert upshot propelled the show back to Broadway, where the revival opened 25 years ago, on Nov. 14, 1996, at the Richard Rodgers Theater. (The aforementioned theater in which the show debuted in 1975, though back then information technology was known equally the 46th Street Theater.)
"This new incarnation," Brantley wrote in his review, "makes an exhilarating case both for 'Chicago' as a musical for the ages and for the essential legacy of Fosse."
Vi Tony Awards, 3 Broadway houses, an Oscar-winning film adaptation and over 30 international reproductions afterward, this Jazz Age satire has become both a cultural touchstone and a New York City landmark. And the show has continually renewed itself through headline-grabbing cast replacements, which have included Broadway veterans (like Norm Lewis and Jennifer Holliday), singers (Patti LaBelle, Usher and Mel B), screen actors (Brooke Shields and Patrick Swayze) and even media and reality TV figures (Wendy Williams and NeNe Leakes).
Adapted from the announcer Maurine Dallas Watkins's 1926 play, based on the sensationalist murder trials she covered, the vaudeville-style musical follows the rising to fame of the down-on-her-luck chorine Roxie Hart later she murders her lover. She soon becomes a media spectacle, thanks to her sleazy lawyer, Billy Flynn; just her husband, Amos, and the vaudevillian, Velma Kelly — in the same jail as Roxie for double homicide — are none too pleased.
A stable of frequent collaborators made up the artistic team: John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote the music and lyrics; Ebb and Bob Fosse wrote the book; and the choreography, of grade, is Fosse's.
Ann Reinking, Fosse's protégée and romantic partner, played a vital role in keeping his legacy alive. Reinking, who died last twelvemonth, adapted his work for the revival; she also filled in as Roxie in the original production (replacing Fosse's married woman, Gwen Verdon), and starred, over again as Roxie, in the revival.
In advance of the anniversary, which will be celebrated Nov. 16 with a special operation, I spoke about the musical's history and legacy with several important figures. Hither are edited excerpts from our conversations.
From Encores! to Broadway
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JAMES NAUGHTON (played Baton Flynn, Roxie's lawyer, in 1996 and 2004) That first opening night at Encores! left a tremendous impression on me. I was continuing backstage and, at the end of the start number, "All That Jazz," the audience exploded. It was the kind of sound y'all just don't hear very often in the theater, or certainly not ofttimes enough.
JOHN KANDER (composer) I had never experienced anything like this. Fred [Ebb] and I didn't know much about what Encores! was going to do, and then we were totally unprepared.
JOEL GREY (played Amos Hart, Roxie's simpleton hubby, in 1996 and in London in 1998) I remember standing next to Jimmy Naughton backstage, and nosotros looked at each other in pure amazement and joy.
WALTER BOBBIE (director) I idea the score deserved to exist heard again because "Cabaret" had kind of eclipsed it. I was watching the O.J. Simpson trial at the fourth dimension I started reading the script and idea information technology felt completely newly minted. It is astonishing to me that the show is most 50 years old, yet it doesn't feel that fashion. It withal feels vital: information technology has theatrical muscle, the characters are vivid, and its issues are ongoing in our public discourse.
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FRAN WEISSLER (Broadway producer) Barry [Weissler] and I were and then blown abroad by the Encores! production that nosotros ran home to call Kander and Ebb and ask for just a little piece of it. Fred Ebb finally told us nosotros could have the whole show. He said, "To tell you the truth, no chandelier is dropping, there's no French Revolution, or a helicopter onstage; nobody wants to do information technology."
BEBE NEUWIRTH (Velma Kelly in 1996; Roxie Hart in 2006; and Matron "Mama" Morton in 2013) Pretty much every time you practice anything onstage, there's talk of it going to Broadway. When these talks happened, I was like, "Yeah right," only so information technology really transferred, and just kept going and took on a life of its own.
The Reinking Factor
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NEUWIRTH The strength and longevity of this production would not have been possible without Annie. She had such respect for Bob, and was incredibly attuned to his very specific style.
WEISSLER In that location was nobody similar her. She was not merely stunning and amazingly talented, with the greatest legs I've seen in my life, but she was then kind and giving in her direction to the performers.
NAUGHTON I don't think there are many pieces that are every bit focused on performers as "Chicago." Given Walter and Annie's conclusion to keep the brilliant, bare-basic Encores! staging when we went to Broadway, when you look at this bear witness, it is pure performing.
BOBBIE I said this when I gave my speech communication at the reopening performance on Sep. fourteen: "Chicago" has turned into the legacy of Ann Reinking. She really carried the legacy of [Fosse'south] choreography through to this product, which sort of sharpened the artful of his work.
Stunt Casting? Or Flexible Casting?
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BARRY WEISSLER (Broadway producer) The word "stunt" actually comes from the unexpected. The onlooker doesn't believe that a singer like Usher can play Billy Flynn, so they start calling information technology a stunt. It's non a stunt: We don't take anyone that tin't fulfill the stage piece of work. And there have been people — fifty-fifty of import people in the music earth — who couldn't cutting it onstage, and then didn't brand it into the show.
KANDER No thing how bizarre the casting might seem, it always seems to fit right into our original intentions. You could cast a Bulgarian tap dancer as Billy Flynn and, if intelligently cast, it will still be that character, but with any personality that performer brings.
LILLIAS WHITE (Matron "Mama" Morton, jail matron, in 2006 and 2021) The bear witness is very clear; you see who's who, and what'due south what, from the very get-go. It'due south lasted this long because its numbers, with great music and stunning dancing, come very quickly, then if y'all similar musical theater, you're going to love this. It's simple: when you're good to Mama, Mama'south good to y'all.
CHITA RIVERA (Velma in the 1975 production, and Roxie on the U.Due south. tour in 1999) Liza Minnelli joined our original production'south cast because she realized it was a wonderful slice, and that information technology would be groovy for her. When Gwen [Verdon, the original "Roxie"] got sick, she expressed that she would like to accept on the role, and people ate it up.
BRANDY NORWOOD (Roxie on Broadway in 2014 and 2017; Los Angeles in 2016; Washington, D.C., in 2017) I didn't want to be the new R&B chick that comes in and messes everything up. It was the music that sustained me; these are the kind of solid, jazzy numbers I saw myself singing, and I knew I could put my ain flavor into them without disrespecting their very Broadway manner.
Gray When they called me about Encores!, I thought, "No, I tin't play Amos: that's a big, vii-foot, overweight mechanic." I didn't see myself in that. Only, after Annie [Reinking] called me, I realized the show just has these great solo spots that could exist tailored for each actor.
Cross-Cultural Relevance
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PAULO SZOT (Billy Flynn in 2020 and 2021) I saw ["Chicago"] on Broadway years and years ago, so, after seeing a product in Paris, knew I had to do it. People only dear the script, and the choreography. I'll be starring in a São Paulo product next yr, and I know anybody at that place volition relate to its bulletin and humor.
BIANCA MARROQUÍN (Roxie in United mexican states City in 2001 and on Broadway, on and off, from 2002-2018; Velma on Broadway in 2021) In that location was a similar instance to the plot's going on in United mexican states when I played Roxie there twenty years ago: Gloria Trevi, a pop star who was in jail at the time, popped the big news that she was meaning — it's the aforementioned thing! When I'd say the line about how I was going to have a baby, people would lose it.
WEISSLER At one point, nosotros wanted to have a Japanese presence in New York, and Japan wanted an American presence in their company. And then we brought in Ryoko Yonekura and taught her Roxie, phonetically, and Amra-Faye Wright learned Japanese phonetically and played Velma in the Japanese visitor. You don't get that with most Broadway shows.
BOBBIE I'm very pleased that we've never had issues with ethnicity, going back to our first national tour, which was headed by Obba Babatundé and Jasmine Guy. We have been really vigilant about this for 25 years, and information technology was not something that nosotros went talking nigh, nosotros just did it. [When the bear witness reopened after the shutdown, four of its v leads were played by Latinx and Black actors.]
Criminal offence Continues
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ANA VILLAFAÑE (Roxie in 2021) This show is however incredibly relevant, peculiarly afterwards the pandemic, when we've been living on our phones in a completely different way. Roxie has this famous line — "You want to know something? I've ever wanted to have my proper name in the papers" — but at present it's non near your name in the newspaper, information technology's about how many followers and likes you accept online. I started reading the script on my phone and realized its themes of fast fame, and this obsession with who nosotros are versus who we announced to be, immediately translated to what I am usually looking at on my phone.
NORWOOD Y'all autumn in beloved with these characters who are ever doing what they want to practise, even if it's nighttime. Roxie never stopped dreaming, and it didn't matter if she was but hanging around in confined, she was going to turn that whole globe into her own vaudeville. That was her way of coping with the fact that she wasn't everything she dreamed she was.
KANDER We were certainly aware of the piece's darkness when we created it. At that place are ii ways of dealing with catastrophe: One is that you lot can pick upwards banners and yell most it, and the other is to exercise the same thing by simply holding the evil upwardly to ridicule, and making an audience feel entertained before they realize what it is they're seeing.
RIVERA It seems to be an American thing where, much subsequently, somebody else says something's brilliant, and critics come back and concord. I become, "Why couldn't they acknowledge information technology?" when thinking well-nigh the original, but the revival just came along at a meliorate time. Kander, Ebb, and Bob Fosse are true artists, and something that's actually neat will last forever.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/10/theater/chicago-broadway-anniversary.html
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