Karleen Weitzel

English 105

March 30, 2001

Chicago review

 

 

“Murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery, treachery.”  My initial reaction when I heard that descriptive list at the beginning of the musical Chicago was, “this is supposed to make me want to stay and watch the show if that’s all it’s about?”  For those of us with strong Christian morals and beliefs, a storyline described in such a way does not sound appealing.  Although some aspects of this play made me uncomfortable at times, the uncomfortable feeling was, in the end, overpowered by the witty humor and energetic performances of all.

Almost every song contained some sort of sexual innuendo or flat out sexual reference.  The song “When You’re Good to Mama” is so full of these that I could just quote the whole song here.  It was probably my least favorite song, especially because I don’t want to know exactly what she meant whenever she said something like, “There's a lot of favors I'm prepared to do.  You do one for Mama, she'll do one for you.”  During some songs I kept thinking, “was that really necessary?”  In Mama and Velma’s duet “Class,”  Ah, there ain't no gentlemen that's fit for any use, and any girl'd touch your privates for a deuce.”  Even with all the innuendos, I laughed quite a bit.  For example, during the “Cell Block Tango” June says,  “and he kept screamin', ‘you been screwin the milkman.’  And then he ran into my knife.  He ran into my knife ten times!”  I had to laugh at how she put that and all the ways the others also claimed innocence. 

I can count on one hand the number of characters who were fully clothed and didn’t look like all they were wearing was underwear.  Amos, “Mama,” Billy Flynn, and Mary Sunshine were all wearing clothes that covered them from head to toe.  Velma and Roxie were half-dressed.  They were at least wearing shirts--revealing shirts, but more than all the other cast members wore, many of whom were wearing only black see-through shirts (over black bras, if female) and black pantyhose.  Even though I was not comfortable with these costumes, they were an important factor in setting the scene and theme of the story.  The audience knew from the start that the story would unfold brashly and without apology.  Once I knew exactly what to expect from the story, I was able to sit back and enjoy the show.

Despite my personal objections to the subject matter of the plot, content of some of the songs, and costumes, I did enjoy the show.  The music was engaging and kept the audience’s attention throughout all two and a half hours.  Having the band on stage was very effective.  They are so often faceless that it was nice to actually see them for once.  They also interacted with the characters and audience at times, which tied the whole show more tightly together.  There were even some points during the show when the audience began to clap along with the song.  After the curtain call, the band kept jamming on as the audience delayed their departure for several minutes to enjoy these musicians’ talents.  Finally, their musical abilities were amazing.  How anyone could play that many instruments that well is beyond me.  They were always blended perfectly and seemed to be having a grand time playing songs they’d probably played millions of times before, and still they didn’t seem bored with it.  The singers also blended together perfectly and their diction and pronunciation was usually very good so that they could be heard and understood.  In addition, they also all seemed to truly enjoy the songs they were singing.  Most of the dancing was not overly difficult, but to someone who is not a dancer even what these dancers were doing was amazing to watch.  I had to appreciate the fact that I could not have done any of that even with months upon months of training and practice. 

My favorite part of the whole show was Amos’ song “Mister Cellophane.”  I liked Amos from the start because he was wholesome and had a good heart.  I was practically cheering for him during his song, especially when he started dancing.  I sensed that the rest of the audience was as well and it was evident in the near standing ovation he received after he exited the stage saying, “Hope I didn’t take up too much of your time.”  He was funny and indescribably likeable.  I kept hoping things would change and he and Roxie would work things out and get back together, but I knew that wouldn’t happen. 

I enjoyed Chicago, but throughout the whole show, I had an underlying feeling of distaste for several of the things being done or said on stage.  Despite this, though, the humorous way in which such a seemingly serious subject was presented, the energizing songs some of which actively engaged the audience in the story, and the intriguing characters who captured the audience’s interest from the start made for an enjoyable evening all around.