Isn't it grand? Isn't it great? John Kander and Fred Ebb's musical Chicago first premiered on Broadway 50 years ago today.
Opening June 3, 1975, at the 46th Street (now the Richard Rodgers) Theatre, the musical wasn't an immediate smash. Based on a play of the same name by reporter and playwright Maurine Dallas Watkins, the metatheatrical show was inspired by the 1924 trials of accused murderers Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner, which Watkins covered for the Chicago Tribune. In the early 1920s, several high-profile cases centering on murderous women arose, which were publicly linked to the proliferation of jazz music, alcohol, and sexual freedom. As newspapers competed to cover stories in more and more salacious (and often fictitious) detail, the prettier defendants often became celebrities in their own right; especially if they managed to get off on a technicality.
It was that very blend of showbiz spin and criminal conduct that attracted Gwen Verdon, who convinced her husband, director-choreographer Bob Fosse, to create a musical adaptation of Watkins' story for her to star in. Fosse, at the time a recent Tony winner for Pippin, was initially hesitant before giving in, applying his characteristic layer of glamorous grime to the sexually charged material. Featuring music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Ebb and Fosse, the original Broadway production was highly vaudevillian, pulling out every trick the collected company had in the shadows.
Verdon and Chita Rivera led the cast as the celebrity criminals Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, respectively, with Jerry Orbach playing their lawyer, Billy Flynn. Barney Martin played Roxie's too-trusting husband Amos. Initially, the musical received mixed reviews, with some audience members struggling with the Brechtian style of the show, which frequently dropped the fourth wall.
It didn't help that Chicago opened the same year as Michael Bennett's cultural juggernaut A Chorus Line. Chicago struggled to pull attention from the supernova happening only a few blocks away, and finances were teetering on the brink of collapse when another unexpected setback rocked the production: leading lady Gwen Verdon inhaled a foreign object during the show's finale, damaging her vocal cords to the point she required surgery.
The producers contemplated closing the show until Kander, Ebb, and Fosse decided to ask a hail mary favor from one of their dearest friends, and most popular stars: Liza Minnelli. With only six days to learn the role of Roxie, the Academy Award� and Tony-winning stage and film star agreed to do the show. She began performances August 8, 1975—and it was a total surprise to the audiences of that performance. Staying with the show through September 13, the stunt boosted the musical's profile significantly, allowing it to find its financial footing for a run that would eventually total 936 performances, closing two years later on August 27, 1977. The production received 11 Tony nominations, but won zero; competitor A Chorus Line was simply too difficult a movement to overcome.
Two decades later, Chicago returned to Broadway with a very different reception. The musical Clive Barnes had deemed "cynical" and "caustic" earned critical and popular acclaim when it ran at New York City Center Encores! in May 1996. The positive notices led to a Broadway transfer that continues to run until this day. Directed by Walter Bobbie with choreography "in the style of Bob Fosse" by Ann Reinking, the revival initially starred Reinking as Roxie, Bebe Neuwirth as Velma Kelly, Joel Grey as Amos Hart, and James Naughton as Billy Flynn. It different visually from the original production, eschewing period costumes in favor of a sleek, modern-coded minimalism look. The Chicago revival transferred to Broadway November 14, 1996, first playing the Richard Rodgers Theatre (where the original production had played), before eventually transferring to the Shubert Theatre, and then the Ambassador Theatre, where the production has remained since 2003.
The revival of Chicago won six Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Bebe Neuwirth, Best Leading Actor in a Musical for James Naughton, Best Lighting Design of a Musical for Ken Billington, Best Director of a Musical for Walter Bobbie and Best Choreography for Ann Reinking. The revival also inspired an Oscar-winning film adaptation in 2002, starring Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, and Queen Latifah. The revival is now the longest-running American musical in Broadway history.
Flip through photos of the original production below.
