Warning: Movie Spoilers Ahead!
Trigger Warning: Murder
Welcome back readers! This week is my FAVORITE genre: musicals! Musicals can be hard to make, as they require triple threat actors, choreographers, and music directors, but when they’re done well they’re done really well.
One of my all-time favorite musical-turned-movies is Chicago (2002), starring Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Richard Gere. The thing that I especially enjoy about this entire show is that it’s a movie based on a musical based on a play based on actual cases covered by reporters. The plot is simple: Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger) is an aspiring Vaudevillian (the 1920s version of a showgirl) who murders her boyfriend and is ratted out by her husband (Yep. The morality is not strong in this one). While in prison, she meets Velma (Catherine Zeta-Jones), a successful Vaudeville performer who killed her husband and sister (they were having a secret affair). They have the same lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere), who sets out to get them both acquitted while they compete for fame and notoriety. Simple enough. Crazy to think this is based on two actual 1920s cases in the Chicago court system. And the worst (best) part? They get away with it and become famous showgirls!
The costuming. The lights. The songs. Chicago has it all! If you aren’t big into musical theatre but want to give it a try - this movie is a great place to start. The acting is fantastic and the audience loves to hate the characters. Movie critic James Croot of Stuff.com says that Chicago is “infused with a sense of razzle-dazzle… [and] holds up almost 20 years on.” And isn’t that the truth? 2023 and it’s still one of my all-time favorite movie-musicals. If you haven’t given it a try, now’s the time!
Let me know what you think in the comments!
I LOVE THIS!!! I played as a dancer when I was in high school musical. And, All That Jazz and Cell Block Tango are my favorite.
ReplyDelete