Chicago
Chicago is a play written
by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins in 1926. The story of Chicago was based on 2 real murder cases
in 1924; Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner. The play
then inspired silent film 'Chicago' in 1927, 'Roxie Hart' the movie in 1942, a stage musical in 1975 and then the film (we are most familiar with) in 2002.
Concept Musicals
Chicago could be considered a concept musical; a musical where the metaphor of the show is more important than the narrative/story. In Chicago, I would say that the overall metaphor is that crime can too easily be glamorised by our culture and be seen as entertainment; 'making celebrities out of murderers'. The audience who come to see the show are also part of the metaphor.
Real Life Murder Trials
The original story was inspired by 2 real murder trials in the city; Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner. Beulah - a jazz singer, inspired the character Roxy, and Belva - a cabaret singer, was the model for Velma.
Beulah shot and killed her lover, her story, (as Roxy's does) changes numerous times. The story which inspired the song in the film and musical version "They both Reached for the Gun" is actually true, as Beulah claimed they quarrelled, things got out of control and they both reached for the gun which was lying there on the bed. Also many of the things that happen during the courtroom scene come directly from the trial, including a sudden pregnancy which mysteriously disappears! As in the film Beulah was set free, however instead of becoming a vaudeville star she had a nervous breakdown and died a year later...
The case against Belva, the model for Velma has less similarities. Belva was drunk (as Velma was) and they both claimed they didn't remember anything from the incident, however Belva killed her lover in a car near her apartment.
"In Watkins’ articles about Beulah and Belva, other murderesses in the Cook County jail are mentioned that have some relation to the “Cell Block Tango” girls in Chicago. There is a foreigner, Sabella Nitti (who Belva paid to make her bed and do her laundry), who is hanged for chopping up her husband, and a woman who had poisoned her husband." Scott Miller (1999) Inside Chicago , Available
at: http://www.newlinetheatre.com/chicagochapter.html (Accessed:
14th January 2016).
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a popular from of entertainment in America during the time Chicago was inspired. From the rise in the 1880s to the fall in 1930's. Vaudeville consists of a sort of 'random' selection of sketches/acts/turns, including animal acts, burlesque, singing, short plays etc. A vaudeville show usually was made up of a selection of around 13 'turns' typically around 6-15 minutes long. Chicago was told though a series of vaudeville acts, including singing, dancing, ventriloquist acts and musical numbers, Cell Block Tango was inspired by and shows the many different nationalities that were involved in Vaudeville acts.
References: Frank
Cullen, Florence Hackman, Donald McNeilly (2006) Vaudeville Old and New,
: Routledge
