by Scott Moore
Contributing Writer
Twenty years ago, the fabled musical duo of John Kander and Fred Ebb (Cabaret) opened a show on Broadway that was apparently ahead of its time. They billed it as a "musical vaudeville," and expectations were high among theatergoers. After an initially strong opening, though, things calmed a bit.
Chicago was a show about a woman who kills her lover; is defended by a smooth-talking, deceitful lawyer; lies about being pregnant to get jury sympathy; then uses her newfound celebrity to go on the vaudeville circuit. Audiences in 1975 just didn't quite get the joke - it all just seemed so ... sordid.
Well, it's not a big stretch to see that modern audiences might be able to relate to a show about spectacular murderers and media fascination. In its current, sleek revival on Broadway, Chicago is the surprise smash of the season. Along with the rediscovery of a script filled with sarcastic, embittered wit comes the rediscovery of Kander and Ebb's rich and tuneful score.
The new, just-released original cast recording is a smart and sassy send-up of Kander and Ebb's brilliant work. Almost every song in this collection is a standout show-stopper, with "All That Jazz" and "Razzle Dazzle" being the obvious highlights.
While the stellar cast (Ann Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, James Naughton and Joel Grey) is not as vocally matched to the material as the '70s cast was (which included Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera), it is more than made up for in the confident way it makes the material it sings all its own and joyously brand-new.
Reinking reprises the role of Roxie Hart, which she played on Broadway when she took over for Verdon in the original production. Instead of being hampered by her scratchy, somewhat weak voice, she uses it to her advantage. Her delivery is funny, decadent and innocent all at once.
In the opening number, after shooting her lover three times, Roxie wails, "I gotta pee!" She comes off as a ditzy mixture of a dance-hall floozy, a gremlin and a scared little girl.
Neuwirth, best known to mass audiences as Lilith on Cheers, has a strong, sexy presence. As Velma, she steals practically every scene on stage, and she does the same on record.
As one of the six merry murderesses of the Cook County Jail, she turns the other five (very talented) performers into backup singers during the ensemble number "Cell Block Tango."
Naughton is suitably slick and suave as the shifty lawyer, Billy Flynn, and Joel Grey's "Mr. Cellophane" is full of deadpan self-mockery.
Musical director Rob Fisher pulls away from the obvious Broadway treatment that gave the original cast recording a self-consciousness that kept it from soaring. Instead, he has flavored it with a little more of the '20s, from the sassy brass sections to the ragtime-flavored piano.
If there is one flaw on the album, it is the way the producers have saddled almost every song with a spoken introduction or conversational break that interrupts the music. The stage production seemed to pride itself on how slick and smart it was, which makes the talking on record, while often quite funny, seem excessive.
On the whole, the album is a wonderful souvenir for anyone who has seen the show, and the next best thing if you can't get in to see the hottest new ticket on Broadway.