Review by James Berardinelli

http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/c/chicago.html

Once upon a time, a Broadway musical like Chicago would have automatically received a silver screen treatment but that was before the popularity of the movie musical crashed and burned. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm surrounding the 1996 revival of Bob Fosse’s 1975 play was so extreme that studios were willing to absorb a certain amount of financial risk on the off-chance that this movie might be able to succeed where so many others had failed. The last major motion picture musical was 1996's Evita, which performed tepidly (with a domestic gross of about $50 million against a budget of $55 million). Miramax Films is hoping for a better showing for Chicago.

The movie represents good, solid entertainment. It's not nearly as rousing (exciting) as the Broadway revival (then again, it's rare that the cinematic version of a musical comes close to the stage incarnation), but, for those unable or unwilling to see a live production, it represents a sparkling replacement. The film strikes a nice balance between the lavishly overproduced likes of Baz Lurhmann's Moulin Rouge and the less openly flamboyant movies from the '50s. The style, by intention, echoes that of the late, great choreographer Fosse.

The history of Chicago is nothing if not convoluted (complicated). Originally a play by Chicago Tribune reporter Maurine Watkins, Chicago chronicled the real-life 1924 murder trials of two women who were eventually acquitted of their alleged crimes. Watkins' non-musical production reached Broadway in December 1926 and became the basis of two movies, including the 1942 Ginger Rogers vehicle, Roxie Hart. Decades later, Bob Fosse obtained the rights to the story, and, working with John Kander & Fred Ebb, he brought a musical version to the stage in 1975, with Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera, and Jerry Orbach in the lead roles. Despite receiving lukewarm (indifferent) reviews, the play stayed alive for nearly 900 performances before ending its run. When Chicago was revived in 1996 (initially as part of New York's City Center Encores! Series), choreographer Ann Reinking devised the new version as an homage to her mentor, Fosse, albeit with a lighter, less cynical tone. The movie adaptation, which has been rumored for several years (and once had names like Madonna and Goldie Hawn attached), is heavily based on the 1996 edition rather than the 1975 one.

Fame is fleeting because the public is fickle (changeable). And nothing titillates (stimulate) the public like the sensational. Looking back on the 1990s, which news stories are the ones that come to mind most quickly? Tonya Harding clubbing Nancy Kerrigan? O.J. Simpson's murder trial? The Lewinsky scandal? Consider this, and it's not hard to understand why Chicago, which is about the celebrity status often accorded to criminals and the short-lived nature of fame, has found such favor during its revival. Things have changed a lot since the '70s. We were now ready to confront things that had been too raw in the immediate wake of Watergate.

The film's central characters are Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger), a housewife who fantasizes becoming a vaudeville star, and Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a chorus girl who dreams of greater fame than she currently has. Both women find themselves in the Cook County Jail on "Muderers' Row." Roxie shot her lover after discovering that he had lied to her about working to further her singing career. Velma eliminated her husband and sister after finding them together in bed. Both women are being represented by slick (skillful) lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), who has never lost a case. His approach is to set up his clients as media darlings, then use that exposure to swing the trial in their favor. "In this town, murder's a form of entertainment," he comments. He refers to courtrooms as "three ring circuses" and assures Roxie that justice can be blinded by the "razzle dazzle" (a noisy and showy display) he will employ.

Their notoriety (scandal) sets up Roxie and Velma as rivals for the public spotlight. The lurid details of their lives and crimes make them instant celebrities (famous persons). But neither stays on top for long, and it becomes a difficult task to recapture the interest of the public once another sensational crime has been committed. There's an insatiable appetite for fresh blood, and, unless Roxie and Velma can come up with new revelations to keep them on the front page, they will be quickly forgotten not only by the general populace, but by their camera-loving lawyer, as well.

Several of the play's numbers have been cut for reasons of pacing and length, but those that remain are expertly staged, combining high energy, Fosse-like choreography with a uniquely cinematic approach that allows vaudeville (a type of entertainment consisting of short acts such as comedy, singing, and dancing) fantasy sequences to intertwine with more "concrete" moments. (For example, the courtroom scenes of Roxie's trial freely switch back and forth between testimony and Richard Gere's rendition of "Razzle Dazzle.") Credit for this goes to choreographer-turned-director Rob Marshall, who is making his feature debut. The real show stopper remains, as has always been the case with the play, the opening interpretation of "All That Jazz."

I have few complaints about the casting, which was viewed as controversial when it was announced. Catherine Zeta-Jones devours the part of Velma with relish, as if she was born to play the stuck-up (arrogant) murderess. Renee Zellweger, while not Zeta-Jones' equal when it comes to drawing the camera's attention, is solid for the most part, although there are a few occasions when her singing could have been stronger. Richard Gere, freed from the need to be serious and intense, exudes charm and charisma in a fun, breezy role that requires him to sing, but doesn't stretch his limited vocal abilities. John C. Reilly is a true sad-sack as Roxie's cuckolded husband and Queen Latifa is "Mama" Morton, the matron in charge of the female prisoners on Murderers' Row, who will help out her charges for a modest fee.

Even though the movie's original source material is 75 years old, the issues addressed by this film will be familiar to everyone in the audience, proving the point that technology may evolve, but human nature remains the same. The social commentary and attacks on the American system of jurisprudence are as stinging as they are valid. The nine or ten song-and-dance numbers allow us to enjoy Chicago on a less cerebral (intellectual), more visceral (deep-seated) level than might be the case if this was not a musical, but there's still a fair amount of substance to be considered. It's a pleasure to note that the return of the movie-adapted stage musical is such an unqualified success. If only audiences will pay the production the attention it deserves?

The Director: Rob Marshall

Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

MSN Movie Website: http://entertainment.msn.com/celebs/celeb.aspx?c=117078&stab=3

Taking his cue from such profusely talented dancer/choreographer-turned-directors as Bob Fosse, former Broadway hoofer Rob Marshall made a scintillating leap into film with his directorial debut Chicago (2002).

Born in Wisconsin and raised in Pittsburgh, Marshall began his professional career at age 12 when he joined a local musical theater company. Though he took time off from college to join a touring company of the 1970s Broadway smash A Chorus Line, Marshall returned to school and earned a degree from Carnegie Mellon University's musical theater program. Leaving Pittsburgh after school, he moved to New York City in the early '80s to join the ranks of Broadway "gypsies" vying for a place in the chorus. Marshall sang and danced in several Broadway shows, and worked his way up behind the scenes from dance captain to assistant choreographer. Marshall, however, suffered an injury while dancing in Cats; he subsequently decided to quit performing to concentrate on choreography. He earned his first credit as a Broadway choreographer with the musical version of Kiss of the Spider Woman in 1993. Working steadily in the theater throughout the 1990s, Marshall subsequently choreographed the Broadway revival of Damn Yankees, and took on double duties as choreographer and director of Little Me, Company, Victor/Victoria, and the Los Angeles stage revival of Fosse's 1975 musical Chicago before it moved to New York in 1996. Marshall learned to choreograph for motion pictures when executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron hired him to create the dances for the TV musical version of Cinderella (1997). Impressed with his work, Zadan and Meron hired him to direct and choreograph the TV adaptation of Annie (1999), which went on to become the most popular TV movie of 1999.

Marshall topped off his Broadway career when he choreographed and co-directed with Sam Mendes the wildly successful 1998 revival of Cabaret. With his sterling Broadway pedigree as well as his TV experience, Marshall was called by Miramax in 2000 to discuss a film version of Rent. Knowing that Miramax head honcho Harvey Weinstein had long desired to make a movie of Chicago, and that such big names as Madonna, Goldie Hawn, and Nicholas Hytner had already come and gone from the project, Marshall instead pitched Weinstein his idea for how to make Chicago's vaudeville stage structure work for film. With Weinstein's blessing, Marshall tapped screenwriter Bill Condon to transform John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Fosse's saucy musical numbers into stylized, stage-bound figments of murderess and wannabe starlet Roxie Hart's imagination. Over a rigorous rehearsal period, Marshall and his team made sure that the cast, including neophyte chorine Renee Zellweger and musical theater veterans Richard Gere and Catherine Zeta-Jones, could do all of their own singing and dancing onscreen. As his Cabaret predecessor, Fosse, had when adapting that show into an Oscar-winning film, Marshall re-choreographed Chicago for the screen as well, creating dances that evoked the sinuous spirit of Fosse's sexy 1975 choreography without slavishly copying it. After two decades in development, Chicago finally opened to rave reviews for its electrifying performances, witty script, and Marshall's giddy, sharp direction. A prize winner as well as crowd pleaser, Chicago garnered Golden Globes for Gere, Zellweger, and Best Picture (musical or comedy), while Marshall earned a Director's Guild nomination for his first feature.

Filmography: Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), Chicago (2002)

Oscars: Nominee Best Director—CHICAGO (2002)

Bob Fosse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Fosse

Bob Fosse (June 23, 1927 - September 23, 1987) was a musical theater choreographer and director.

He was born in Chicago, Illinois as Robert Louis Fosse, which he shortened to Bob Fosse for his professional work. His career in dance began early. At age 13 he toured with his own dance act, The Riff Brothers, and was already choreographing by the time he was 15. He first appeared in film dancing in Give A Girl A Break and Kiss Me, Kate, both released in 1953.

Fosse developed a jazz dance style that was immediately recognizable, exuding a stylized, cynical sexuality. Bowler hats, fishnet stockings, canes and chairs were distinctive trademarks. His dance routines are intense and demanding, requiring considerable stamina. Technically the style involves moving one part of the body whilst holding the rest in a still pose - a combination of precisely-executed gestures ("hand bal let", to use his own term), both sinuous flows and rapid kicks and jerks. The filmed routines in Cabaret (1972) are particularly characteristic: the vulgar energy of vaudeville and burlesque updated and coolly contained within a slick, knowing sophistication.

One year later he worked as a choreographer in his first two Broadway shows, "The Pajama Game" (1954) and "Damn Yankees" (1955).

In 1986 he directed and choreographed the Broadway production "Big Deal", which he also wrote.

Fosse earned many awards for his works. Among them were a Tony Award for Pippin, the Academy Award for Directing for Cabaret and an Emmy Award for "Liza with a Z". He was the first person to win these three most important awards in the same year.

His musical All That Jazz (1979) won the Palme d'Or. It is an uncompromising, semi-autobiographical fantasy that portrays a chain-smoking choreographer being driven by his A-type personality to the brink of a heart attack.

Bob Fosse was married to the dancer Joan McCracken from 1951 to their divorce in 1959, and then married dancer Gwen Verdon in 1960. They had one daughter, Nicole Fosse, who is also a dancer like her parents.

There was a resurgence of interest in Fosse's work following revivals of his stage shows and the film release of Chicago (2002). Rob Marshall's choreography for the film emulates the Fosse style but avoids using specific moves from the original. In 1999 the stage show Fosse itself won a Tony Award for Best Musical.