April 21, 2004

This is a story about murder, women in prison, crooked lawyers, and show business! It is a dark (funny?), cynical musical; but the music is so good and catchy and the dance numbers are so great--choreography by the legendary Bob Fosse--that you find that you've enjoyed yourself, in a sort of guilty way, after-the-fact.

Well, my experience, anyway. I am used to old-fashioned musicals where good people win out over great odds and such ("The Sound of Music") or shady characters get reformed ("The Music Man").

It is really hard to feel sympathy for any of the characters in this story, except maybe for poor hapless Amos, Roxie's befuddled but kind husband.

I was very pleased to see stars being multi-faceted again, like in the early days of movies, when a star had to be able to sing, dance and act (Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable come to mind). It's nice to see that again.

Richard Gere was surprisingly good at both singing and dancing! He was sufficiently smarmy as the high-powered attorney for Roxie and all the other "girls".

Catherine Zeta-Jones is very talented! She has a full expressive voice and is quite the accomplished dancer! I think, looking back, I am coming to like her character a lot more than I did whilst watching the movie.

Queen Latifah just about stole the show with her musical number. She was very interesting as the prison matron, although her character, like almost everyone else in the show, was crooked.

I just cannot seem to get myself to like Renee Zellweger, who played Roxie. Um...maybe because she looks like a chipmunk? But she also has a "thin" voice compared to Catherine Zeta-Jones'. In a couple numbers Renee reminded me of Marilyn Monroe...but without the "innocent" sexiness Marilyn had.

This musical is worth seeing because it's a modern classic. The excellent performances turned in by all the stars will wow you. And you will have "All That Jazz" stuck in your internal jukebox for at least a day!

--fleur

Copyright 2003-2008 Joanna M. Phillips