I'm seeing CHICAGO, the Musical

[Janice]

.....tomorrow night at the Wang Center in Boston. I have great seats. I loved the movie, and I'm really looking forward to seeing it played out on the stage.

[DustBunny]

Good for you, I hope you have a great time! Let us know how it was.

[Krisalicious]

Originally posted by Janice
.....tomorrow night at the Wang Center in Boston. I have great seats. I loved the movie, and I'm really looking forward to seeing it played out on the stage.

LUCKY. Wow...you'll love it. IMO, it's about 10284384247427343724 times better than the movie. The costumes are kind of boring in the show, but the dancing and singing is just great. Plus, there are a lot more songs in the musical that aren't in the movie, such as

-A Little Bit of Good (Mary Sunshine's song..you'll notice something very odd about her when you see the play ),

-Roxie's little intro before she actually sings "Roxie" (this was in the movie, but some of the stuff she says is slightly different),

-My Own Best Friend (A duet by Roxie and Velma about how, at that time, they can trust no one but themselves and have to have faith in themselves)

-I Know a Girl (Velma's song about how sickening it is to see Roxie become famous even though Velma knows Roxie is faking her pregnancy)

-Me and My Baby (Roxie's song about her "baby")

-When Velma Takes the Stand (GREAT song...it wasn't included in the movie but it was talked about a little..it's Velma telling Billy what she will do on the witness stand at her trial. As you know, Billy then passes Velma's ideas on to Roxie which leads to Mama and Velma's "Class")

-Nowadays (Yes, this is in the movie, but in the musical version Velma sings in it a lot more)

-Hot Honey Rag (this is also in the movie, but its so much better in the musical. It goes a lot faster (probably because people on broadway have more dancing experience than Renee or Catherine but it's great)























Oh, did I mention I've never actually seen the musical yet? Haha..but yeah, I own the London Cast recording (Ruthie Henshall as Roxie is STUNNING), the 1996 Broadway revival cast (Ann Reinking as Roxie and Bebe Neuwirth as Velma), and of course the movie soundtrack. But yeah, I've seen clips from the musical and I really, really want to see it. And that's possible, because I live close to New York. I'm just not sure when I want to go...


Erm, sorry for the long post, but I hope you have fun!

[Janice]

Originally posted by Shane West's Angel
LUCKY. Wow...you'll love it.

Thanks Shane. I really enjoyed it. Gregory Harrison, from Trapper John fame, played Billy Flynn. He did quite a good job. The actress who played Roxie looked like Renee Zellwegger, and Velma was a dead ringer for Halle Berry. The play had some great feel good moments and a lot of comedy as well.
I've seen the movie twice, and I noticed the added musical numbers. The songs are terrific. I bought a Chicago mug for myself and the soundtrack CD for my brother.
My only complaint is the cheap production value. There was virtually NO set design. The orchestra was on stage, and the play was acted out in front of it.
The actors never changed costumes....Roxie and Velma maybe once, but there was no glitter. I expected a flashy production with special effects.
For the finale, they brought down a gold glitter curtain for Roxie and Velma to perform that great dance. Other than that, it was just a stage with the orchestra taking up half of it.
I got past the negatives because the talent was incredible, but in reality, I've seen high school plays with better costumes and set design. Personally, I liked the movie much more. I LOVED the movie.
Take Phantom of The Opera, for example--which I've seen six times, lol. The costumes are beautiful. The sets are elaborate, complete with giant chandeliers, a river scene, smoke, special effects. I don't mind waiting the few minutes while they make set and costume changes.
My grade for Chicago The Musical. B+

[Georgia's on my Mind]

Originally posted by Shane West's Angel
LUCKY. Wow...you'll love it. IMO, it's about 10284384247427343724 times better than the movie. The costumes are kind of boring in the show, but the dancing and singing is just great. Plus, there are a lot more songs in the musical that aren't in the movie, such as

-A Little Bit of Good (Mary Sunshine's song..you'll notice something very odd about her when you see the play ),

-Roxie's little intro before she actually sings "Roxie" (this was in the movie, but some of the stuff she says is slightly different),

-My Own Best Friend (A duet by Roxie and Velma about how, at that time, they can trust no one but themselves and have to have faith in themselves)

-I Know a Girl (Velma's song about how sickening it is to see Roxie become famous even though Velma knows Roxie is faking her pregnancy)

-Me and My Baby (Roxie's song about her "baby")

-When Velma Takes the Stand (GREAT song...it wasn't included in the movie but it was talked about a little..it's Velma telling Billy what she will do on the witness stand at her trial. As you know, Billy then passes Velma's ideas on to Roxie which leads to Mama and Velma's "Class")

-Nowadays (Yes, this is in the movie, but in the musical version Velma sings in it a lot more)

-Hot Honey Rag (this is also in the movie, but its so much better in the musical. It goes a lot faster (probably because people on broadway have more dancing experience than Renee or Catherine but it's great)























Oh, did I mention I've never actually seen the musical yet? Haha..but yeah, I own the London Cast recording (Ruthie Henshall as Roxie is STUNNING), the 1996 Broadway revival cast (Ann Reinking as Roxie and Bebe Neuwirth as Velma), and of course the movie soundtrack. But yeah, I've seen clips from the musical and I really, really want to see it. And that's possible, because I live close to New York. I'm just not sure when I want to go...


Erm, sorry for the long post, but I hope you have fun!

AH, cool! Janice, you are so lucky...I want to see it so badly...actually I wish I could have seen Ruthie Henshall in it...but oh well, I'll have to wait till she comes back as Roxie! It sounds like you had a great time. eek! Im jealous! And like Kristina listed...there are a lot of great songs that aren't in the movie.

[Krisalicious]

Originally posted by Janice
Thanks Shane. I really enjoyed it. Gregory Harrison, from Trapper John fame, played Billy Flynn. He did quite a good job. The actress who played Roxie looked like Renee Zellwegger, and Velma was a dead ringer for Halle Berry. The play had some great feel good moments and a lot of comedy as well.
I've seen the movie twice, and I noticed the added musical numbers. The songs are terrific. I bought a Chicago mug for myself and the soundtrack CD for my brother.
My only complaint is the cheap production value. There was virtually NO set design. The orchestra was on stage, and the play was acted out in front of it.
The actors never changed costumes....Roxie and Velma maybe once, but there was no glitter. I expected a flashy production with special effects.
For the finale, they brought down a gold glitter curtain for Roxie and Velma to perform that great dance. Other than that, it was just a stage with the orchestra taking up half of it.
I got past the negatives because the talent was incredible, but in reality, I've seen high school plays with better costumes and set design. Personally, I liked the movie much more. I LOVED the movie.
Take Phantom of The Opera, for example--which I've seen six times, lol. The costumes are beautiful. The sets are elaborate, complete with giant chandeliers, a river scene, smoke, special effects. I don't mind waiting the few minutes while they make set and costume changes.
My grade for Chicago The Musical. B+

Ew..you're right. The set of Chicago..err..or lack thereof is HORRIBLE. It's just a plain black background right? Ick. And yeah it is really annoying how Roxie and Velma wear the same thing for the whole show (well actually, Roxie changes her costume for act 2) but yeah, it's almost supposed to make it as if the show you're seeing is in black and white, because it did take place in the 20s. The costumes in the movie are about 1000000x better, such as the Nowadays coats and the white Hot Honey Rag outfits. Oh and btw, I'm not exactly sure which Roxie you're talking about (because I'm assuming you saw the tour, and if you did, Bianca Marroquin plays Roxie and I don't think she looks like Renee so it must have been an understudy.) and I'm pretty sure you saw Brenda Braxton as Velma.


Now, about Phantom of the Opera, I saw that last month and I really liked it too. You're right about the scenery...it was gorgeous. I LOVE the scenes where they show the boat and that bridge..it was so pretty. I liked the music, but it was a little slow and depressing at times for my taste in upbeat musicals, like Chicago, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Aida. It's not really a show I'd see because I want to. I watched it because it was my mom's birthday and she wanted to see it, but anyway, it was pretty good. And yes I agree with you, they had great smoke effects.

[Janice]

Yeah, they announced before the show that Bianca Marroquin would be played by someone else. I'm looking at the slip of paper in my Playbill, and it says Caitlin Carter. She was good.
I wonder what was up with Bianca? I mean, it was opening night. I was sort of aggravated about that, but her understudy did one hell of a job. The talent was incredible.
I just think that for $85 a ticket, they could have spent more on production. It's not as if they were paying big money for big name stars. I'm thinking, Show me the money, lol.
The background was just black, but remember the orchestra was just there, in the way, in my opinion, lol.
I swear the only thing on that stage besides the actors and the orchestra was a wooden chair and a couple of ladders.

[Janice]

CHICAGO. Sorry it's so big. I don't know how to resize.



Taken care of, Janice

Brian

[Kay Scarpetta]

ohhhh that's awesome! I've been wanting to see it so bad. One of these days...

Glad you had fun, though!

[AllIWantIsYourClutch]

Originally posted by Janice
Yeah, they announced before the show that Bianca Marroquin would be played by someone else. I'm looking at the slip of paper in my Playbill, and it says Caitlin Carter. She was good.
I wonder what was up with Bianca? I mean, it was opening night. I was sort of aggravated about that, but her understudy did one hell of a job. The talent was incredible.
I just think that for $85 a ticket, they could have spent more on production. It's not as if they were paying big money for big name stars. I'm thinking, Show me the money, lol.
The background was just black, but remember the orchestra was just there, in the way, in my opinion, lol.
I swear the only thing on that stage besides the actors and the orchestra was a wooden chair and a couple of ladders.

I saw it when it was in Chicago and Caitlin Carter played Roxie too...but she was awesome.

I thought the scenery thing was cool...How there was nothing. Yeah but that's just me.

[Janice]

Originally posted by Janice
Taken care of, Janice
Brian

Thanks Brian.