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Chicago
Based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins9m, 10fPremiering in 1975 and the hit of the 1997 Broadway season in a production that originated at City Center's Encore! series, Chicago won six Tony Awards including Best Revival and later the Academy Award as Best Picture of the Year. In roaring twenties Chicago, chorine Roxie Hart murders a faithless lover and convinces her hapless husband Amos to take the rap...until he finds out he's been duped and turns on Roxie. Convicted and sent to death row, Roxie and another Merry Murderess Velma Kelly, vie for the spotlight and the headlines, ultimately joining forces in search of the American Dream fame, fortune and acquittal. This sharp edged satire features a dazzling score that sparked immortal staging by Bob Fosse. 'A pulse racing revival that flies us right into musical heaven.-The New York Times Wildly entertaining...[with a] dazzling score.-New York Daily News
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 10, 2025
Due stelle solo perchè Chicago come musical in generale non mi fa impazzire, mi piacciono solo le coreografie lol però volevo comunque leggerne il libretto.
May 26, 2015
'Chicago' is one of the most sucessful musical from all times. The mix of 1920/30's aesthetic, loose morals, satirical characters and quite laughable plot twists supplies an approach to many different fans.
July 22, 2025
Chicago, based on the book by Bob Fosse
One may wonder if The Hours, Gangs of New York or The Pianist are not better than Chicago, the motion picture that has won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Catherine Zeta-Jones and other important prizes at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and other festivals and Award ceremonies.
Renee Zellweger is dazzling, exhilarating in the leading role of Roxie Hart, married to the slow, unimaginative, loyal Amos Hart aka the acclaimed John C. Reilly – nominated for the Oscar and the Golden Globe for his exceptional performance.
Roxie has a lover, but what she is interested in most, obsessed actually is fame, becoming a celebrity at no matter what cost – when that seems to happen, she is overjoyed and when it appears to elude her, the heroine becomes depressed and lost, angered and vindictive.
After a quarrel with her lover, she kills him, is sent to jail, facing a death penalty, but she is defended – although at a certain point the accused fires the lawyer – by the exuberant, flamboyant attorney, Billy Flynn aka the controversial Richard Gere, winner of the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical.
This counsellor would stop at nothing to win his cases.
What is original though, unique in this musical comedy where the protagonists are killers, other important characters are just as ruthless, the press is more interested in salacious details, tabloid gossip, passing fame, than in getting the truth, is the…dancing.
Although the court drama has some interesting, unexpected changes, revelations, strategies of the defense, in many of the films we have seen before, these details have been on display…
Anatomy of a Murder, …and justice for all, Kramer vs Kramer, The Caine Mutiny, A Few Good Men, The Verdict and so many others are better than Chicago.
Where Chicago is different and superior in that the others do not have this outré, effervescent aspect is in transforming the court drama into a dancing show, with Velma Kelly, Roxie Hart, Billy Flynn and the others staring a testimony, deposition or an argument and then start singing and jumping around.
The choreography is superb, even when it includes gruesome scenes.
One prisoner is sentenced to death by hanging and this is presented on a stage, with a ballerina climbing the stairs, getting the rope over her head, around the neck, at the same time with the dying woman.
Catherine Zeta-Jones, who has won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, portrays Velma Kelly.
She is a singer who has killed her husband and sister when she has found them in bed together and she would play a crucial role in turning the fate of Roxie Hart around, as couched by the shrewd, ruthless lawyer.
Since they have been in prison together, Velma comes as a star witness for the prosecution, claiming to have found a diary in which Roxie Hart writes the truth about the murder…allegedly.
While on the stand the accused testified that there was a fight with her lover, who had had a gun and could have killed her, therefore, the death was self-defense, accident or most likely both, in the diary there is another story.
Knowing that a journal is private and nobody would read, never mind use it, the woman has somehow confessed to a cold-blooded, premeditated murder that she does not regret.
On the contrary!
The lawyer for the defense would contest the authenticity.
When the prosecution asks if Billy Flynn accuses the…accusation of tempering with the evidence, the attorney says…no
Of course not!
But now that you mention it…
Chicago is remarkable in its exquisite combination of comedy with gripping crime stories, proposing characters that are complicated – although murderers, they all not entirely repugnant, they are clever, attractive and talented.
The women who have killed are not completely innocent, but they are also not totally loathsome, heartless monsters, in a world where men rule, abuse, torment, cheat, harass and enslave women – this is the 1920s – the defense they have to put up has to be violent.
Nevertheless, for all the merits of Chicago, the under signed would have given the Academy Award for Best Picture to any of the competitors – with the exception of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers –
The Hours, Gangs of New York and The Pianist are better than Chicago is.
One may wonder if The Hours, Gangs of New York or The Pianist are not better than Chicago, the motion picture that has won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Catherine Zeta-Jones and other important prizes at the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and other festivals and Award ceremonies.
Renee Zellweger is dazzling, exhilarating in the leading role of Roxie Hart, married to the slow, unimaginative, loyal Amos Hart aka the acclaimed John C. Reilly – nominated for the Oscar and the Golden Globe for his exceptional performance.
Roxie has a lover, but what she is interested in most, obsessed actually is fame, becoming a celebrity at no matter what cost – when that seems to happen, she is overjoyed and when it appears to elude her, the heroine becomes depressed and lost, angered and vindictive.
After a quarrel with her lover, she kills him, is sent to jail, facing a death penalty, but she is defended – although at a certain point the accused fires the lawyer – by the exuberant, flamboyant attorney, Billy Flynn aka the controversial Richard Gere, winner of the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical.
This counsellor would stop at nothing to win his cases.
What is original though, unique in this musical comedy where the protagonists are killers, other important characters are just as ruthless, the press is more interested in salacious details, tabloid gossip, passing fame, than in getting the truth, is the…dancing.
Although the court drama has some interesting, unexpected changes, revelations, strategies of the defense, in many of the films we have seen before, these details have been on display…
Anatomy of a Murder, …and justice for all, Kramer vs Kramer, The Caine Mutiny, A Few Good Men, The Verdict and so many others are better than Chicago.
Where Chicago is different and superior in that the others do not have this outré, effervescent aspect is in transforming the court drama into a dancing show, with Velma Kelly, Roxie Hart, Billy Flynn and the others staring a testimony, deposition or an argument and then start singing and jumping around.
The choreography is superb, even when it includes gruesome scenes.
One prisoner is sentenced to death by hanging and this is presented on a stage, with a ballerina climbing the stairs, getting the rope over her head, around the neck, at the same time with the dying woman.
Catherine Zeta-Jones, who has won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, portrays Velma Kelly.
She is a singer who has killed her husband and sister when she has found them in bed together and she would play a crucial role in turning the fate of Roxie Hart around, as couched by the shrewd, ruthless lawyer.
Since they have been in prison together, Velma comes as a star witness for the prosecution, claiming to have found a diary in which Roxie Hart writes the truth about the murder…allegedly.
While on the stand the accused testified that there was a fight with her lover, who had had a gun and could have killed her, therefore, the death was self-defense, accident or most likely both, in the diary there is another story.
Knowing that a journal is private and nobody would read, never mind use it, the woman has somehow confessed to a cold-blooded, premeditated murder that she does not regret.
On the contrary!
The lawyer for the defense would contest the authenticity.
When the prosecution asks if Billy Flynn accuses the…accusation of tempering with the evidence, the attorney says…no
Of course not!
But now that you mention it…
Chicago is remarkable in its exquisite combination of comedy with gripping crime stories, proposing characters that are complicated – although murderers, they all not entirely repugnant, they are clever, attractive and talented.
The women who have killed are not completely innocent, but they are also not totally loathsome, heartless monsters, in a world where men rule, abuse, torment, cheat, harass and enslave women – this is the 1920s – the defense they have to put up has to be violent.
Nevertheless, for all the merits of Chicago, the under signed would have given the Academy Award for Best Picture to any of the competitors – with the exception of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers –
The Hours, Gangs of New York and The Pianist are better than Chicago is.
March 1, 2020
I enjoy reading play scripts and musical scripts. It isn't just performing I enjoyed, and still enjoy. I'm curious about the stories that are told. This curiosity didn't kick in until a few years ago, though. If I was really curious, I'd watch from the wings until my own cue. Perhaps conceited, one of the largest roles I had, I didn't watch from the wings at all, instead going through the script frequently but my own scenes every chance we got, with my scene partner, one of two lead roles. I was one of four principle roles, and maybe sixteen at the time. So. This was a quick read, as scripts can be, and sticks super close to the Renee Zellweiger movie, probably the other way around actually. Roxie's a lot colder, and Mama Morton more caring. One of my drama professors was cast as her ten years ago in an actual staged production. I was fascinated by this. She talked about choices she made and used scenes with the actress playing Roxie as examples. She wasn't giving her notes behind her back or anything: it was genuinely to teach Drama 150. I thought of this when reading, and the movie went through my head too. Someone I know is in the staged production right now as Hunyak and it's kind of a fleshed out role. That's pretty cool, and I'm happy for her. I'd like to play a reporter if this is done again in my city. It's done every few years. The script made the reporters interesting. One of my clearest memories when the movie came out, was just how many teen actresses sang "Cell Block Tango" in the dressing rooms. It was annoying, but when I saw the movie, I totally got it. I think the show gives a lot of chances for actresses that might not ordinarily happen, and this is semi-based on the real Roxie Hart. I'm glad it was written and still so widely performed.
August 21, 2024
This razor-sharp satire on the US just gets funnier and funnier. Roxie Hart shoots her lover in cold blood when he tries to break up with her, then her lawyer convinces the jury that she did it to save the life of her non-existent unborn child and gets her off the hook. Special prize for the following exchange:
Roxie:
I’m sick of yous telling me what to do! I’m a big star and you treat me like some dumb common criminal!
Billy:
You ARE some dumb common criminal.
Roxie:
I’m sick of yous telling me what to do! I’m a big star and you treat me like some dumb common criminal!
Billy:
You ARE some dumb common criminal.
May 18, 2025
Chicago is a musical that was done in the 70s that didn’t do well and didn’t really come into prominence until after the O.J. Simpson trial and then it became an overnight sensation including a movie which won the Academy award. Chicago is a great show, but I think that a lot of people are now discovering it, even though it’s older than dirt.
May 4, 2023
Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly are legends, they are icons, and they are THE moment
December 8, 2023
i did this for too long i couldn’t read
January 23, 2024
4.8, I would have slayed as a Jazz murderer in the 1920s
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December 17, 2024Read through day for our spring musical!
November 22, 2015
A classic musical that tells a tale of murder, corruption and bamboozling during the Jazz Age. A great read, but seeing the show and hearing the music is even better.
September 10, 2018
Wow...more to this than I initially thought. Kinder and Ebb sure made a great team.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews