PHOTO FLASH! Original 1975 Broadway production of Bob Fosse's CHICAGO! — Page 2

(I don't even know who Jody Arias is, except for the fact that it's a name in the media--and my main connection to OJ's trial was that I was annoyed it pre-empted soap operas for so long--soap fans still see it as the start of the slow death of the genre.)

I would agree with you--at least based on all the second hand experience I have with the original staging including those out of town home movies. I think--as All That Jazz seemed to spell out--much of that cynicism was based on Fosse's interpretation (for all I know the book's re-writes were as well since he obviously worked closely with Ebb on those.) You get glimpses of it in Pippin as well, despite the material. But what a glittering diamond despite that--I think the revival's staging's brilliance isn't just that it happened in a post-OJ world, but also by keeping the Encores staging, more or less, and presenting it as a fun, adult cabaret concert, the audience is made less complicent and able to appreciate it more.

(From my own personal experience, I remember when I was 16 and the tour with D'Amboise came to Vancouver my dad got tickets for my mother and I--and I was nervous because my mom back then had a lot of issues with Fosse's work, which she found to wallow too much in decadence and sleaze--and the revival turned her around. I don';t think the original production would have...)

No--look at the basis for most of the 1800's "Penny Dreadfuls."

Gaveston, I'm sure I'm just obtuse--I don't read the paper exceptthe arts or lifestyles segments, turn off the radio whenever a newsbreak happens, etc. Canadian media is dominated by American media--so I don't think it's just about my location. I'm resisting the urge to google her (his?) name though.

I am curious but as I've said--I can't PM people on here :P So PM me...

Thanks Brody Fosse.
I can't believe no on asked this.

Who is your mother and which one was she???

Since you've said you're of Argentinean descent, Brody, methinks I can guess which one your mother is...but I won't say

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upload to tinypic.com

hope that worked! thank you, ljay889 :)

Wow! Those are great pics. Thanks for sharing.

You don't like the guys' thighs?

But didn't it struggle for a lot of that run? I agree it obviously wasn't a flop, but it must have been seen as a disappointment on some level, despite movie interest. It was not tried in London (they got their own Chicago without Fosse that *did* flop--of course Pippin was a flop there too so maybe Fosse had no interest in London.) I think it didn't help that the cast album took a relatively long time to be reissued on CD (first by small label, Bay City and then finally by Arista--I believe it's now been folded into the Broadway Masterworks label.)

The original production remains my all-time top favorite theatrical experience. It won me over as soon as Chita ascended on that elevator, stepped onto the stage, paused, gave us all a knowing smile, and then launched into "All That Jazz." Verdon, Rivera and Orbach have never been bettered.

I have the souvenir program from 1975 buried somewhere in my apartment. If it has more pics I'll scan them and post here.

in many ways, that's the magic of theatre and what sets this apart from other artforms. Live performance is called "live performance" for a reason....films, photos, bootlegs etc can give us a pretty good idea of what it was like, but it's still the medium refracted through another medium.

Anyway :) There are photos and videos of Chicago out there, most of which appear on this thread! I think it's easy enough to "get" the show this way, and I hope between BrodyFosse123, myself, and whoever else contributes memories or more material, the documentation of 1975 Chicago will live on :)

Updated On: 4/9/14 at 05:31 PM