About the work
John Kander and Fred Ebb's vaudeville musical, with a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse, was premiered in 1975 at the 46th Street Theatre on Broadway. Based on Maurine Dallas Watkins's 1926 play, inspired in turn by real Chicago murderers of the Jazz Age, the original production was overshadowed by its contemporary A Chorus Line. The 1996 revival by Walter Bobbie and Ann Reinking became the longest-running American musical in Broadway history, still running in 2026.
Plot
In Prohibition-era Chicago, vaudeville performer Roxie Hart shoots her lover Fred Casely and is sent to Cook County Jail. There she meets her idol Velma Kelly, awaiting trial for killing her sister and husband. The corrupt lawyer Billy Flynn takes on both clients, turning their trials into media spectacles. Mama Morton, the prison matron, trades favours for bribes. Through manufactured tears and manipulated headlines, Roxie is acquitted. In the closing number, Roxie and Velma merge their acts into a vaudeville double bill, cheerfully proclaiming their murders as the foundation of their celebrity.
Cultural significance
Chicago anticipated by decades the cultural phenomenon of celebrity crime coverage and fame as moral currency. The razzle-dazzle number has become proverbial shorthand for theatrical misdirection. Rob Marshall's 2002 film adaptation won the Academy Award for Best Picture, introducing the musical to a global cinema audience. The role of Roxie Hart has been played on Broadway by stars ranging from Ann Reinking and Bebe Neuwirth to Brandy Norwood and Pamela Anderson. The acidic cynicism of Kander and Ebb's vision has only grown more resonant with time.