Two
Director: Rob Marshall
Stars: Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, John C. Reilly, Queen Latifah.
John DeLuca ... choreography supervisor
Denise Faye ... assistant choreographer
Rob Marshall ... choreographer
Cynthia Onrubia ... associate choreographer / choreographer: Mr. Gere's tap steps created by
Joey Pizzi ... associate choreographer
Michelle Johnston ... assistant choreographer (uncredited)
Bob Fosse ... acknowledgment: directed and choreographed for the stage by / dedicatee
Gwen Verdon ... dedicatee
22 songs in the Soundtracks, 17 Music by John Kander, 16 Lyrics by Fred Ebb (all those music by JK).
I really don't understand. I don't like Cabaret ('72) nor Sweeney Todd ('01). But I love Chicago. Somehow it is cynical and exuberant and wonderful.
I remember my initial reaction to this film was that the choreography was not Fosse. But that's smart, because as I said in my notes about Fosse ('01), only Fosse can truly achieve Fosse choreography. And the choreography here is great.
I love the fact that all the musical numbers are fantasy (until the finale), and that they're intercut with reality. I don't get the sense that the cutting is designed to hide any performance weaknesses; it's to enhance the unreality of it. Besides, we get rehearsal footage and uncut sequences on the 2nd disc that show what the performers did. (I love that in the credits they use 3 separate lines to state for CZJ, RZ and RG that each one did their own singing and dancing: "___'s singing and dancing performed by ___".)
My rating dates back to 2012 (although I bought the discs in 2005), and I am only augmenting with a + today, which I might have used back then too.
Related posts:
Chicago in the Spotlight: A Retrospective with the Cast and Crew (2014), 7 {nm}
Chicago B'way Cast Recordings ('96) and ('75)
Related posts:
Chicago in the Spotlight: A Retrospective with the Cast and Crew (2014), 7 {nm}
Chicago B'way Cast Recordings ('96) and ('75)
Rated 7.2 (196,966)
Miramax & more, dir. Marshall; 9+
