Chicago on Broadway Tickets

By: John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Bob Fosse
Director: Walter Bobbie
Producer: Barry & Fran Weissler, Jujamcyn Theatres in association with Kordan Productions
Cast list: Charlotte d'Amboise (as Roxie Hart), Kimberly Marable (as Velma Kelly), Lili Thomas (as Matron "Mama" Morton), Max von Essen (as Billy Flynn), James T. Lane (as Amos Hart), R. Lowe (as Mary Sunshine), Max Clayton (as Fred Casely)
Design: John Lee Beatty
Lighting: Ken Billington
Costume: William Ivey Long
Choreography: Ann Reinking
Sound: Scott Lehrer

True crime stories are popular nowadays, but the obsession is nothing new. This tale of murderesses in Prohibition-era Chicago is based on a 1926 play, also titled Chicago, by former crime journalist Maurine Dallas Watkins. She based her play on two 1920s court cases involving a housewife and cabaret singer, respectively, accused of murdering their husbands.

The Chicago musical, similarly, follows housewife Roxie and vaudevillian Velma, who mimic each other’s publicity stunts and hire the same lawyer in the hopes of making front-page news. It’s the only way to get acquitted, and maybe even make it big.

The original production starred Chita Rivera as Velma and Fosse’s wife, Gwen Verdon, as Roxie and played from 1975 to 1977. The current production, Chicago’s first revival, opened in 1996 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, hopping to the Shubert in 1997 and the Ambassador in 2003. This production has far surpassed the original production’s success and set multiple Broadway records. Chicago is the second-longest-running Broadway show of all time, only behind The Phantom of the Opera.

Chicago borrows heavily from 1920s vaudeville variety shows. These included singers, dancers, acrobats, ventriloquists, and more. Different events in Chicago on Broadway — like a trial, a press conference, and even an execution — are staged like these different types of acts. An emcee also introduces the songs as though they were a lineup of vaudeville performances.

What to watch for

• The Chicago musical inspired a 2002 film, which won the 2003 Academy Award for Best Picture. It starred Renée Zellweger as Roxie Hart, Catherine Zeta Jones as Velma Kelly, and Richard Gere as Billy Flynn.
• Watkins wrote her play Chicago while at Yale Drama School about her experience as a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. The show was originally called Brave Little Woman, and it’s now called Play Ball when performed to avoid confusion with the musical.
• The production began as a four-performance concert presentation at New York City Center’s Encores! in May 1996! Chicago transferred to Broadway in November that year, and the rest is history!
• Because it was originally a concert, the sets and costumes are minimalist, and the full orchestra plays on stage. The orchestra sits within a golden frame — the same one from the Encores! production that's still in use today.
• Ann Reinking, who replaced Gwen Verdon in the original Chicago production and originated Roxie Hart in this one, choreographed the revival “in the style of Fosse.” Fosse was nominated for the Best Choreography Tony for his work on the original, but Reinking won for the revival! The choreography of “Hot Honey Rag” remains intact from the original.
• The Chicago Broadway cast has featured plenty of celebrities, including Usher, Brandy, Taye Diggs, Michael C. Hall, Wayne Brady, Melanie Griffith, Brooke Shields, Ashlee Simpson, Jerry Springer, Patrick Swayze, Sofia Vergara, Rita Wilson, Jamie Camil, NeNe Leakes, Rumer Willis, Todrick Hall, Jennifer Nettles, Pamela Anderson, Angelica Ross, and many more.
• Make eye contact with the ensemble at your own risk, as Fosse famously told the cast in 1975: “Dare the audience to look at you, and then look back at them with murder in your eyes.”