![]() ![]() Mama Morton, the jail’s matron, operates according to a system of “reciprocity.” As she puts it, “When you’re good to Mama, Mama’s good to you.” For the right price, Mama will do all kinds of favors for her inmates, even connecting them with Billy Flynn, the best defense lawyer in town. Most of the women, Velma included, present themselves as victims of irritating, deceitful, and unfaithful men: “If you’d have been there, if you’d have seen it, I betcha you would’ve done the same.” Only one prisoner, a Hungarian immigrant, insists she is not guilty. Lipschitz.” In lyrics as unremorseful as they are onomatopoeic, the Six Merry Murderesses of Murderer’s Row at Chicago’s Cook County Jail explain why they killed their partners. Her song of “love and devotion” to Amos turns sour: “That scummy, crummy, dummy hubby of mine!” “Cell Block Tango” However, Amos refuses to play along when he learns the dead man was Roxie’s lover. Roxie convinces her husband, Amos, to take the blame for Fred’s murder by pretending he shot an intruder out of self-defense. ![]() When Fred tries to leave her later that night, Roxie shoots and kills him: “Nobody walks out on me!” By the end of the song, Velma has also been arrested on murder charges. Nightclub singer Velma Kelly transports us to a “whoopee spot where the gin is cold but the piano's hot.” Among the patrons at Velma’s club are aspiring singer Roxie Hart and her lover Fred Casely. Learn more about all the songs in Chicago on Broadway, including multiple numbers you won’t see on screen. With Monsoon making drag queen history in the role, now is the perfect time to revisit the musical and celebrate this iconic Broadway score.Įven if you have two left feet, you’re likely to find yourself shimmying and shaking along with the music, if not breaking out into full-on Fosse-style jazz hands. In numbers like “All that Jazz” and “When You’re Good to Mama,” the dialogue between verses advances the plot, about two murderesses who become overnight celebrities in 1920s Chicago.Īnd speaking of celebrities, the latest star to join the show is Drag Race’s Jinkx Monsoon, who plays Matron “Mama” Morton through March 12. Often, Chicago’s songs comment on the action or reveal insights about a character. These songs do not move the story forward in the way of a traditional integrated book musical. Both the Broadway musical and 2002 film adaptation frame most of the musical numbers as vaudeville or nightclub acts. The bold, seductive score conveys a fatal flaw in human nature: how easily we allow spectacle to deceive us.Ĭhicago is also notable for its use of diegetic music. The secret to this musical’s record-breaking success - with over 10,000 performances, Chicago is the longest running American show on Broadway (and second longest running overall, behind the British Phantom of the Opera) - lies largely in the music by John Kander and Fred Ebb. That’s because the show’s hot, jazzy music is the real star. In the current Broadway production, which has run since 1996, the orchestra literally takes center stage. Chicago the musical doesn’t razzle-dazzle audiences with falling chandeliers, flying helicopters, or spinning turntables.
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