"Chicago." Chicago, A Heck of a Town

Twenty-one years ago, on the main stage of Kutztown University, near Reading, Pennsylvania, a student production of the Bob Fosse musical "Chicago" raised the curtain. Some wonderfully talented students cavorted about the stage in the saga of the female "Murderer's Row" in the Windy City, and sang exciting songs like "All That Jazz" and "Give 'Em the Old Razzle Dazzle." If you were to trace that follow-spot from the stage up into the light booth, you would have found me.

I was a speech and theater major, and as a result, was required to "sit out" of that show in order to fulfill my "technical" requirement. Follow-spot operator seemed to the faculty to be the safest bet. I enjoyed the show, and wished I were a part of it.

Strangely enough, I got the same feeling sitting in the audience of the movie version, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweiger. With the passage of two decades, my memories were fuzzy, but with each passing number, they came back full force. This is one heck of a show.

As the movie opens, young Roxie Hart (Zellweiger) arrives in a Chicago night club and sees half of a sister act, Velma Kelly (Jones) singing "All That Jazz." Roxie wants to be part of that world, and her consort, Fred (Dominic West) is promising her a piece of the action.

But once Roxie realizes that Fred just wants a quick romp, she murders him and ends up in prison in "Murderer's Row," along with Velma who had murdered her sister that night before her nightclub performance, and a slew of other suspected killers, led by loudmouth Matron "Momma" Morton (Queen Latifah). Momma's advice is that Roxie get the best lawyer in town, Billy Flynn (Richard Gere).

There's two possible stumbling blocks to movie musicals. One is downright incredulity. Why do these farmers and ranch-hands in "Oklahoma" suddenly break out into song. Who does that? The other is too much dialogue, not enough music. "Chicago" deftly avoids both these pitfalls. The musical numbers are set up from the beginning as the machinations of Roxie's showbiz-obsessed psyche. Each one is even announced by the floor runner of the nightclub (Taye Diggs). And the breezy dialogue serves merely as the subtlest transition from one number to another.

And what numbers! Director Rob Marshall choreographs each piece with style and originality, and there's no evident cheating with camera angles and lighting. Catherine Zeta Jones, Renee Zellweiger and Richard Gere each get second credits at the end assuring the audience that each did his or her own singing and dancing. And with the exception of Billy's tap-dance number, which was slightly below par (but only slightly), the effects are full of "razzle-dazzle."

The leading ladies are both phenomenal. And Richard Gere surprised me even more than Christopher Walken's measured performance in "Catch Me If You Can." He beams and jaunts his way through the film, apparently having more fun than he's had in his last six movies.

Oh, and I would be remiss if I failed to mention the wonderful contributions of one Dean Muto. He was the follow-spot operator.