CHICAGO - it's origins

"Gin and guns—either one is bad enough, but together they get you in a dickens of a mess, don't they."

                                                                       Accused murderer Belva Gaertner, 1924

Maurine Dallas Watkins

In 1926, Maurine Dallas Watkins, a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, crafted a play from articles she had written while covering the sensational murder trials of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner in Chicago in the early 1920’s. Entitled simply CHICAGO, the play not only dealt with the murders, but also the underlying theme of the cult of celebrity that follows criminals. 

Beulah Annan (l) Belva Gaertner (r)

Watkins was not new to the idea of the sensational trial and how the media can be used to create sympathy, celebrity, empathy, and even an acquittal. It’s this dynamic that forms the foundation of the musical version of CHICAGO. As we craft the play through the rehearsal process, consider the connection between crime, celebrity, and sensationalism.

Thomas H. Pauly, in the introduction to his book Chicago (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University, 1997) wrote, “Watkins’ play offers a bracing reminder that lurid crimes were as aggressively commercialized seventy years ago as they are today."

Both Watkins' play and the Kander/Ebb musical examines the sensationalism of crime and criminals.  Fortunately for us, this allows us to explore URGENCY, and its effect on the pace of the show.  Think of the hurried race to break the latest trial news and scoop the competition in today's 24 hour news cycle, musical promos that bracket the news coverage of the latest high profile shooting, reporters who quickly clamor for interviews with anyone related to the story.  This is not to suggest that everything is breathlessly fast, least of all the choreography.  But it can create an interesting juxtaposition with the languid, sensual world of Burlesque that can be explored in the dance numbers.

Empowerment seems to be an evident theme as well, with the original playwright being an early example of a woman in a traditionally male role.  Watkins of course played a legit role: that of a reporter covering crime stories which was more often than not reserved for just men..  Velma and Roxie (and the other women in Cook County Jail) take on traditionally masculine roles as well - Murderers.  As you move forward in creating these characters, pay special attention to when characters slip out of and back into the traditional archetypes / stereotypes based on gender.  

...her comic depiction of a woman groping towards liberation and the future foregrounds pressures women still face, but it is downright uncanny in its anticipation of today’s news-as-entertainment culture.  (Pauly)