"Chicago" review

Authors Avatar

"Chicago"

Currently playing at the

AdelphiTheatre

Reviewed November 2002

Still running with renewed cast

Direction: Walter Bobbie

Music, Book & Lyrics:  John Kander and Fred Ebb

Choreography: Ann Reinking (based on Bob Fosse's original choreography)

Cast Reviewed: Patrick Wilson, John Ellison Conlee, Andre De Shields, Jason Danieley, Romain

Fruge, Marcus Neville, Kathleen Freeman and Emily Skinner

If you can’t get to the Westend this year to see the sassy musical Chicago you needn’t worry.

Come next year. It will still be here! This crowd-pleaser already has the quotes from the critics on

its side. Now, eight times a week 1480 people in the AdelphiTheatre go out singing both its praises

and its songs – or at least the hummable melody of one the last songs, "Razzle Dazzle".

The book is by John Kander and Fred Ebb (authors of New York, New York, Cabaret and Kiss of

the Spiderwoman) and originally co-written with Bob Fosse. The musical is based on the original

Join now!

play by Maurine Dallas Watkins.  These writers know how to structure an evening with dramatic arc,

smooth flow, narrative clarity, logical progression and strong theatrical images. All of those are

evident in Chicago. But more importantly, they know that a musical must have heart and wear that

heart on its sleeve. There is a deep-seated, salt-of-the-earth sentimentality to the piece that makes

any of its comic excesses, its occasional vulgarity and the ridiculousness of some of its situations

completely acceptable and even enjoyable.

Kander and Ebb start with the basic story of "Murder, greed, corruption, ...

This is a preview of the whole essay