Chicago, The Broadway Musical

Chicago, the Broadway musical, needs absolutely no introduction. Almost anybody who’s been to the Broadway or heard of it, knows of this spectacular musical. Besides, it was also greatly popularized by the Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rene Zellwegger, and Richard Gere starrer film by the same name. The Broadway musical went on to win 6 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical and the film too won several academy awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Chicago takes an interesting look at fame, fortune, murder, deceit, celebrity status, and scandals, giving them all a musical and lyrical twist and setting them into fabulously choreographed dance numbers. It’s one foot tapping journey into the lives of Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, who are both in prison, both looking to get free, and both hoping to bask in as much limelight as possible in an attempt to gain the sympathy of the public.

Incidentally, the original Broadway version of Chicago that opened in 1975 was not well received, apparently because of its cynical tones. Did you know that this musical is based on a play written by reporter Maurine Watkins who was covering the story of two Jazz-era murderesses, Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner. The original version ran for 936 performances at the 46^th Street Theater, before it was wrapped up.

The 1996 Broadway revival, which was minimalistic in nature, had better luck. Today it holds the record for being Broadway’s longest-running musical revival and seventh longest-running show in its history. During its run, Chicago has played in three Broadway theatres – the Shubert Theatre, Ambassador Theatre (where it plays currently), and the Richard Rodgers Theatre, which also happens to be the same theater where the original production was staged, and it was known as the the 46th Street Theatre back then.

One can imagine the popularity of this musical from the following extremely interesting facts:

It has played over 15,000 performances worldwide and has been performed in various languages, including Dutch, Swedish, German, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Italian and French.

It is estimated that 17 million people all over the world have seen Chicago and it has grossed over $300 million on Broadway and over $850 million worldwide since its opening.

Some of the countries where this musical has been played are Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands, Israel, South Africa, China, South Korea, Argentina, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates? And that is not an exhaustive list by any means!

The tickets for Chicago are priced between $62.50 and $130.00 and the show timings are as follows:

Monday            8:00 PM

Tuesday            8:00 PM

Wednesday       Dark

Thursday          8:00 PM

Friday             8:00 PM

Saturday           2:30 PM & 8:00 PM

Sunday              2:30 PM & 7:00 PM

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