Review of Chicago (1927) by David A — 25 May 2011

(from The Watermark, 11/02/06).

BROADWAY ON THE BIG SCREEN (AND VICE VERSA).

As a card-carrying show tune Queen, I can't help but notice that more and more Broadway musicals are based on films. I don't mind this one bit; I particularly enjoy seeing shows that fix the problems of the original source material, and in some cases improve it. Check out the modifications made to The Producers, Hairspray, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mary Poppins, and a host of others. (There are also occasional misfires like Footloose, Fame and the now-legendary Carrie). Still running are The Wedding Singer and The Color Purple -- and musical versions of Legally Blonde and 9 to 5 are in the works.

But while Broadway succeeds in looting material from Hollywood, musicals haven't seen the same triumph on their westward journey to the big screen. The only recent success was the unlikely Chicago in 2002. When it was first announced, many doubted they could adapt a lightly plotted musical revue where each song is a different type of vaudeville act. The film's device of framing the musical numbers as fantasy sequences was the stroke of genius that made a theatrical concept cinematic. (Chicago's Oscar win for Best Picture was the first time in 34 years a musical had won that award. The last was Oliver! in 1968.).

2004's The Phantom of the Opera should have been a cinematic success. It was on its way to becoming the longest running show on Broadway, it had director Joel Schumacher giving it a lavishly over-the-top treatment, and... oh, yeah, the material was crap. It didn't help that Gerard Butler's Phantom wasn't a good singer, and his deformity was reduced to the point that he could have avoided a lifetime of isolation with a strategically placed comb-over.

Flash forward to last year's much-anticipated Rent. Most of the original Broadway cast reprised their roles -- so what if the struggling Bohemian twenty-somethings were in their thirties now? Grease had thirty-something high school students, didn't it? But Rent was proof that ideas, situations, and dialogue that work on stage don't always translate well to film. Mimi's death scene at the end was lame, and the What You Own number -- yikes. Paging director Chris Columbus: Bon Jovi called and wants his video back.

Last year also brought us most of the original cast of The Producers in their own big-screen extravaganza. Bits and pieces were fun, but overall it was just a hollow celluloid representation of the stage show. Why not just film a live performance? Now there's a way for some producers to save a couple of bucks.

So, what's next? Brace yourself: coming next year is Broadway's Hairspray. And in the role of Edna Turnblad is - John Travolta? The role made famous by Divine, Harvey Fierstein and Bruce Vilanch? Travolta shares the screen with newcomer Nicole Blonsky as Tracy and an all-star cast including Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, Allison Janney, Amanda Bynes, and Michelle Pfeiffer. ("Grease and Grease 2 finally meet on the big screen!" exclaims original writer-director Jon Waters.) Overall, I have high hopes for this one -- producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are the ones who helmed Chicago, and hopefully they haven't lost their magic touch.

Speaking of Grease and Grease 2, am I the only one who thinks Disney's TV-movie hit High School Musical could be subtitled Grease 3? The featherweight plot involves a boy basketball player and a girl math whiz who are trying to break out of their respective "cliques" to do the unthinkable: audition for the drama club musical -- sound familiar? It has great choreography and a couple of really tuneful songs, so unfortunately it isn't so bad that it comes around full circle to good again (as was the case with Grease 2). But hey, they can't all be loser-winners.

By the way, here in Florida later this month, Atlantic High School in Port Orange will be one of the first schools in the country to produce -- you guessed it -- a stage adaptation of the film. Broadway can't be far behind.

Also of note: December's Dreamgirls shows great promise, since it was written and directed by Bill Condon (Gods & Monsters, Kinsey). But we may want to say a prayer for next year's big screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter -- something tells me it's gonna need it.