Pop…Six…Squish….Unh-uh…Cicero…Lipschitz

Glee…Everyone is talking about Glee. “I love Glee“…”Did you see what happen last night on Glee ?’.  Believe it or not I have never seen Glee. Oh the horror. Unfortunately, Glee is scheduled opposite Lost. I’ve watched Lost from the first season and still can’t figure out what’s happening. So, you can see why I can’t miss an episode of Lost. More on that later.

My curiosity was finally satisfied  today with a Glee marathon.  Now I am craving some musicals. I have loved musicals since the time I watched those old black and white Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies as a young girl. How elegant and sophisticated they were.  I was hooked. Tale  a look at my favorite movie musical.

Chicago

Murder,  mayhem and fantastic dance numbers, choreographed by the great Bob Fosse. Director Rob Marshall  brings Chicago to the screen with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger and Richard Gere is the lead roles of Velma Kelly, Roxie Hart and Billy Flynn. What is there not to love about Chicago? Rob Marshall’s casting of Gere and Zellweger was brilliant, who knew they could sing and dance?

The story of Chicago involves a popular nightclub performer, Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones)  who interrupts her dancing partner-sister and her husband at an inopportune moment of passion. Not one to be upstaged  by her sister, Velma fires a few warning shots that land her in the Cook County Women’s Jail. On “Murder’s Row”.

Renee Zellweger plays the younger, but not so innocent Roxie Hart. A girl who wants to be in show business and is willing to do anything (and I mean anything) to get her big break. Too bad for Roxie’s latest road for stardom, Fred Casely.  Fred promised Roxie an audition with a nightclub owner. Problem was, Fred was lying just to seduce Roxie. Roxie didn’t take the news well and explained it to her lying lover with a couple of bullets in the chest. Just in time for her loving husband, Amos to arrive home from work.

The Music & the Dancing

That is just the beginning. All of the best scenes happen in the prison. This is where the jazz-inspired music of  the legendary team of John Kander and Fred Ebb, famous for their  Broadway hits Cabaret, Zorba and The Kiss of the Spiderwoman;  and the sensual, pulsating choreography of Bob Fosse really shine. The music on the Chicago soundtrack is full of incredible songs. In numbers like “When You Are Good to Mama“, Queen Latifah shows us that she is more, much more than a hip-hop performer as she explains her pay up and pay off philosophy of life. She played the role of Matron Mama Morton with the perfect  combination of menace and larceny.

Pop… Six…Squish….Unh-uh…Cicero…Lipschitz

By far,  my favorite dance number is the “Cell Block Tango“. The lady inmates of Cell Block 8 tell the sad stories of the men that done ‘em wrong and the tragic, deadly consequences of their cheating ways. But as the song says, “he had it comin“. The dancing showcases Bob Fosse’s love of the female form as the dancers’ high kicks, stomps and splits re-enact their crimes.

Best Line: ‘You know some guys just can’t handle their arsenic.’

Richard Gere gets a chance to show off his song and dance skills in “All I Care About is Love“, “Razzle Dazzle” and  a dazzling tap dance number. John C. Riley is heartbreaking as Roxie’s long-suffering and very gullible husband Amos in “Mr. Cellophane”.

Watch Sweet Charity and  Cabaret to see other examples of Fosse’s dance style. You can even see him dancing in Damn Yankee and Kiss Me Kate.

The Big Finish

It wouldn’t be a really good musical, without THE BIG FINISH or a big musical number to get your toes tapping. Chicago won’t disappoint you. After much tap dancing and legal maneuvering, Bill Flynn (Gere) helps both Roxie and Velma beat their murder charges. Unfortunately for Roxie, her  trial’s publicity  doesn’t bring  closer to her dreams of stardom. It is as true in Jazz Age Chicago as it is today: People are always looking for the next big thing. So, Roxie and Velma join forces to create a killer of an act.

Released in 2002, Chicago brought a glimmer of hope to movie musical lovers. It received critical acclaim,  13 Oscar nominations on won 6 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Catherine Zeta-Jones- Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Colleen Atwood- Best Costume Design

Gordon Sim / John Myhre -Best Art Direction-Set Decoration

Martin Walsh - Best Editing

Michael Minkler/Dominick Tavella/David Lee - Best Sound

Best Picture

A Few of My Favorite Movie Musicals

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)

“Something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone: a comedy tonight!” Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton,  and a very young Michael Crawford star in this hilarious romp through ancient Rome with music by Stephen Sondheim

West Side Story (1965)

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet gets a musical makeover while The Jets and the Sharks dance through the streets of New York City to the music of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim and choreography by Broadway’s Jerome Robbins.  Starring Natalie Wood, George Chakiris, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno.

Funny Girl (1968)
(or anything with Barbra Streisand)

What can I say. She’s Barbra…she’s like buttah. Barbra plays Vaudeville performer, Fanny Brice and sings one of her most famous songs; People. ‘People who need people….are the luckiest people in the world!‘ You have to hear Barbra sing it.

An American In Paris (1955)

Wizard of Oz (1939)

What are your favorite movie musicals?