Chicago

Roxie's one wish is to follow in the golden footsteps of vaudeville performer Velma Kelly.

Roxie gets her wish when some very wrong steps land both the star and starlet in prison for separate murder charges.

Under the crooked care of the prison Matron Morton, Roxie meets up with legendary lawyer Billy Flynn (Richard Gere). He agrees to take Roxie's case for an immodest fee. Roxie's career explodes, to the chagrin of her mentor. But the clever Miss Kelly has a few surprises left for her second act.

"It's fun and it's a great ride, but what it says is rather dark," says director Rob Marshall. "It's about the perversity of celebrity, and who we choose to celebrate."

Based on the award-winning musical by John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, Chicago is a stunning spectacle full of intrigue, love, betrayal, rivalry and friendship, a pageant of music and dance that adroitly shifts between reality and fantasy, as Roxie's world moves from the prison to the courtroom to the stage.

Inspired by the highly sensationalised trials of Cook County, Chicago Tribune court reporter Maurine Watkins penned the first incarnation of Chicago. The play, originally titled The Brave Little Woman, opened to rave reviews when it was produced in 1926. Two film adaptations followed: Chicago, a silent film released in 1927, and Roxie Hart, starring Ginger Rogers, which was released in 1942.

Though the satire was specific to a certain time and place, Watkins's tale of murder and media manipulation would prove both prophetic and timeless.

Yet despite its several incarnations and modi-fications, Chicago's original themes will ring true for today's audiences. One only has to look at the slew of recent celebrity trials to see that Roxie, Billy and Velma are a very real part of our contemporary legal climate.

Renee Zellweger plays the central character of Roxie. "I didn't really grow up around musical theatre," says Zellweger. "I didn't have any reason to sing, except for in the shower, while my brother was down the hall screaming for me to please shut up.'"

Nevertheless, she jumped at the chance to don Roxie's garters. "She's so earnest in a way, and so desperate and tragic in another. She's so desperate for fame because of what she thinks it will bring self esteem, self-respect, self-worth, love. All the things she doesn't have a lot of. She feels that if she is lionised by the masses like Velma, she'll be more whole as a person. The sad reality is that it's a fallacy."

First cast in the production was Broadway enthusiast Catherine Zeta-Jones as the devilishly conniving Velma Kelly. For Zeta-Jones, Chicago was the realisation of a childhood dream. "When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be on stage, singing and dancing. I was obsessed with musicals from the golden years of Hollywood. I would have just loved that world of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers."

She warns, however, that Chicago is hardly akin to the musical confections loved as a child.

"What's great about Chicago is that it's dangerous and sexy and darkly funny," says Zeta-Jones.

"There is this idea that all musical comedy is fluffy and shallow. Chicago has longevity because of a certain wit and depth that makes it different."

"The story stays current," she continues, "because everyone craves those 15 minutes of fame. Everyone is fascinated by the cult of celebrity, how hungry certain people are for it, and to what lengths they'll go to get it."

February 13, 2003 12:01