#RICHARD GERE CHICAGO RAZZLE DAZZLE MOVIE#
#RICHARD GERE CHICAGO RAZZLE DAZZLE PLUS#
#RICHARD GERE CHICAGO RAZZLE DAZZLE SERIES#

#RICHARD GERE CHICAGO RAZZLE DAZZLE PLUS#

Plus the thing just rockets by with nary a misstep. and you've got about half of what makes Chicago so gosh-darned enjoyable. Reilly, Queen Latifah, Colm Feore, and Christine Baranski, a non-stop playlist of toe-tappin' ditties, and a directorial style that's as glitzy & grand as it is subtly satirical. could shake her booty so deliciously? And who would have ever expected Richard Gere to sing and dance so endearingly and entertainingly? (Certainly not me!) Throw in some staggeringly strong supporting work from the likes of John C. Jones could belt out the notes like this? Who knew Renee Z. The three leads deliver consistently stellar work. (And this is coming from a guy who can find one or two 'meh' songs in all of his favorite musicals.)

#RICHARD GERE CHICAGO RAZZLE DAZZLE SERIES#

But regardless of whether the songs and dances take place in 'reality' or as part of a series of extended 'dream sequences,' the simple truth is this: They're all awesome. but their 'internal alter egos' sure as heckfire do.

#RICHARD GERE CHICAGO RAZZLE DAZZLE MOVIE#

One relatively controversial touch by Marshall was to have all the musical numbers take place 'virtually' inside of Roxie's head instead of 'literally' as part of the narrative, which means that the movie characters might not suddenly break into song. I've never seen Chicago on a stage, but I know some serious Broadway fans who'll swear up and down that Marshall's cinematic adaptation maintains a smooth, slick, and entirely effortless respect for Kander & Ebb's classic show. I believe the key to successfully adapting a stage musical into a movie is knowing you're going to have to change a lot of things around, while always keeping the essence of the material the same. If that were the case, The Phantom of the Opera wouldn't have been a laughable mess, and Rent might have been a smash hit instead of a one-weekend wonder. You just have to hire the right people, copy the classic songs down, and roll cameras, right? Well, no. On paper, the idea of translating a stage play into movie form might not seem all that difficult. Now incarcerated and (quite literally) the talk of the entire town, Roxie and Velma must contend with the ravenous press, a greedy prison matron, and a joyfully sleazy lawyer called Billy Flynn, a wickedly charming shyster who promises to get any jailed woman 'off' - provided she has his $5,000 retainer.

Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Velma Kelly, a considerably darker and vampier femme fatale who just killed her husband and her sister in a fit of jealous rage. The 'big flashy movie musical' was back from a prolonged hibernation, and it was Miramax's Chicago that acted as the alarm clock.Ī dual-pronged tale of sex, scandal, murder, and music, Chicago stars Renee Zellweger as Roxie Hart, a sweet-faced little ingenue who just happened to shoot her lover dead after an unexpected jilting. The movies that Chicago 'beat' for Best Picture? Scorsese's Gangs of New York, Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Daldry's The Hours, and Polanski's The Pianist.įorgive me for believing that the best pic won that year.Ĭapably proving to a modern audience that a Broadway classic can be augmented on its way to the silver screen and be a rousing success, Chicago traveled down the path cleared out by Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge, and its good fortune led to the green-lighting of projects as varied as The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, and The Producers.

But after the film won 6 Oscars out of 13 total nominations and the 'buzz' gradually wore down, Chicago was treated like some sort of red-headed & Oscar-hungry stepchild. and the results were pretty damn amazing.įeature film debut from director Rob Marshall (who has since gone on to direct Memoirs of a Geisha) and deliciously juicy vehicle for actors like Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago was a Broadway-style smash, raking in over $170 million at the North America box office while wowing critics and audiences alike. After decades of razzle-dazzling the theater world from New York to London to (you guessed it) Chicago, John Kander & Fred Ebb's widely admired musical Chicago finally made it on to the silver screen.

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