by Santos Baez ’25

So my mother and grandmother forced me to go with them to the CIBC Theatre (18 W Monroe St, Chicago, IL 60603)   to watch the musical “Chicago”.  I researched it before going, thinking it would be about the history of the City, or maybe somehow Chicago sports, but based on pictures it just seemed to be about half naked people dancing around singing. 

However it turned out that “Chicago” was really about something much more interesting than anything I could have hoped or expected. 

The musical is based on the 1926 play written by Maurine Dallas Watkins, a reporter assigned to cover the 1924 trials of murderers Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner(who in the play are the characters Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly). Essentially the play is a satirical look at how female murderers (of husbands/boyfriends/lovers etc), were treated as celebrities in the early 20th century. This coincided with the changing view and role of women, driven largely by jazz culture, as reflected by the feel and music in “Chicago”.

The screenplay, written by  Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb (both long deceased) in the early 1970s, absolutely still holds up over six decades later. The story never got boring or uninteresting; it literally had me on the edge of my seat with its many surprises. The songs and accompanying choreography were also unforgettable. 

Moreover,the actors were amazing picks; the foot work, their voices, the stunts they had to perform, all beyond impressive. 

In all, if you haven’t gone to see this yet, I would highly recommend it. This play for me gets 5 out of 5 Santos.