VALDOSTA — The Windy City meets the Azalea City again.
Broadway and musical fans have known the power of songs like “All That Jazz,” “When You’re Good to Mama,” “Razzle Dazzle,” for years as fans of the musical “Chicago.”
Several years ago, Fred Ebb, Bob Fosse and John Kander’s seductive tale of murder and celebrity set in 1920s Chicago reached a new audience as it became an Oscar-winning movie starring Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta Jones and Richard Gere.
Three years ago, locally based Peach State Summer Theatre presented the musical as part of its opening season.
In early April, “Chicago” comes to Valdosta again. This time as part of a nationally touring production brought here as the 2007-08 season closer of the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts Presenter Series.
“Chicago” is a show from Troika Entertainment, the same company behind two of the Presenter Series most popular and successful productions: “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Cats!” which was the first and only Presenter Series show to sell out Mathis City Auditorium.
“Chicago” is a seductive musical of murder, mayhem, and mirth. “Chicago” is really a dark comedy meant for fun. If one must have a bit of message with one’s musical theatre then think of “Chicago” as a prescient musical.
“Chicago” is a musical written in the 1970s that is set in the 1920s but nails our headline-grabbing, celebrity/tabloid culture of the early 21st century. That’s one view. Others have called “Chicago” a satire of the American legal and justice system. Put those two things together and “Chicago” sort of predicted the O.J. trial mentality back when Simpson was still a beloved football star.
Yet, the concept of a “celebrity criminal” may not be as new as we like to think. “Chicago” the musical is based on the 1926 play of the same name. The play was written by reporter Maurine Dallas Walker and she based the plot and characters on her Chicago Tribune news stories. Walker had covered the murder trials of Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner.
Like the musical’s Roxie, Annan reportedly shot her lover then listened to records for a couple hours before telling her husband she had killed a man trying to make love to her. Cabaret singer Gaertner serves as inspiration for Velma; a man was found shot to death in Gaertner’s abandoned car. Juries acquitted both women.
More than 40 years after the play’s premiere, Fosse sought the rights to adapt the story into a musical, but Walker balked at Fosse’s requests. In her will, however, she granted permission for the musical.
So, “Chicago” has social significance, history, and, of course, “All That Jazz.” And that’s enough “Razzle Dazzle” for today.
SHOWTIME
Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts presents “Chicago.”
When: 7:30 p.m., April 7.
Where: Mathis City Auditorium, 2300 N. Ashley St.
Show ticket: $45.
Dinner theatre: An optional, pre-show dinner is available for an additional $15 per ticket. It starts at 6 p.m., and is held in Mathis’ multi-purpose room.
Reservations: Visit the arts center, 527 N. Patterson St., or call 247-2787.
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