DVDs: More of All That Jazz
Given the reception of the recent film versions of The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, and The Producers, the huge success of the movie of Chicago looks increasingly like a fluke. As if to remind everyone that it's not so easy to transfer a hit Broadway musical to the screen, Miramax recently issued a new, double-DVD "Razzle-Dazzle Edition" of the Oscar-winning Chicago, releasing it around the holidays, just as the films of Rent and The Producers were arriving in theatres.
Of course, such collector's editions are put out chiefly to get fans to re-buy a film they already have. Indeed, there's no good reason why the first DVD release of the Chicago film two years ago could not have been a two-disc set and included all of the many bonuses provided on the new set.
That 2003 Chicago DVD was a single disc, with three notable special features. First, of course, was the deleted musical number "Class," cut because it didn't fit the film's overall conception whereby all musical numbers emanated from Roxie Hart's imagination, and also because it slowed the film down. Then there was a standard-issue, twenty-eight-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, including interviews with all of the prinicpal actors along with the director, screenwriter, set and costume designer, and songwriters John Kander and Fred Ebb. This covers the history of the property and the continued relevance of its themes, with everyone at pains to point out that all the principals are doing their own singing and dancing.
Then there's the feature-length track of audio commentary with director Rob Marshall and screenwriter Bill Condon, which offers scene-by-scene analysis of the film and serves to enhance one's admiration of the result. Both men emphasize the concept that made the film work, with the musical numbers seen through the eyes of Roxie, thus becoming projections onto a vaudeville stage of a desperate show-biz wannabe. They explain that "our way into the piece" was by keeping the numbers on stage: "It became cinematic by remaining theatrical." This also goes a long way toward explaining why it was easier to film a musical like Chicago than a work like Rent, in which the characters must deliver "real," character songs in real locations.
The commentary includes a telling description of how the opening sequence of the film, with its constant alternation between the worlds of reality and fantasy, establishes the film's rhythms and language. Marshall explains that the film's rapid cutting is a way of blurring the distinction between one reality and another, and was never meant to be a means of covering up the performers' musical shortcomings. He also notes that Moulin Rouge hadn't even opened when Chicago began shooting, thus making it a particularly risky project.
It's explained why certain stage numbers were dropped they agree that "My Own Best Friend" was the biggest loss; how the film altered the show and introduced new sequences; and why the film's rating was changed from R to PG. Both offer praise for the principal actors and contradict rumors concerning the use of doubles as in Gere's tap dance.
The double-disc "Razzle-Dazzle Edition" does not include that behind-the-scenes featurette from the single-disc edition. But Disc One still offers the feature-length commentary by Marshall and Condon along with the "Class" number. And the disc's new feature is a twenty-seven-minute documentary, "From Stage to Screen: The History of Chicago," offering the story of the creation of the original show and the film.
From the original, we hear from two now-deceased giants, Jerry Orbach and Ebb, along with Kander, Chita Rivera, Ann Reinking, and Martin Richards, the latter co-producer of both the original stage production and the movie. There's footage of the original production from TV commercials and clips of Orbach doing "Razzle Dazzle" on television.
Orbach declares that the audience wasn't ready for the show's black humor in 1975, but also notes the unfortunate coincidence of opening so close to A Chorus Line. He also offers the interesting story of how the number "Class" was altered by Fosse when the original production played the St. Louis Muny. It's surprising that Richards errs by stating that Reinking never appeared in the original production she replaced Gwen Verdon's Roxie.
From the film, we hear from Marshall, Condon, Richards, and producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. It's noted that when Fosse died, Richards believed the film to be dead. Then Richards states that, years later, he sought Baz Luhrmann to direct a Chicago film. Orbach, Rivera, and Reinking praise the film and agree that Fosse would have approved. There's not much new information in this documentary, but it's pleasant enough.
Everything on the second disc is new. It begins with the set's most unusual material, a new look at thirteen musical numbers. First we get "extended performances" of six of them, which, via multiple screens, allow one to see a sequence from several viewpoints at once, as well as in rehearsal and during shooting. The next three numbers are in a "From Start to Finish" series, one for each of the three leads, showing them in the rehearsal room and the recording studio. The final four numbers are seen in rehearsal only.
"Chita Rivera's Encore" is a sweet featurette in which the star, who had a cameo in the film, discusses the experience of revisiting the project in its new incarnation. In "An Intimate Look at Rob Marshall," cast members, producers, and Kander and Ebb sing the director's praises. It's interesting to note that almost no credit is given to the smash 1996 Broadway revival, without which there never would have been a Chicago film.
In the feature "When Liza Minnelli Became Roxie Hart," Zadan and Meron explain how Minnelli came to substitute for Verdon in Chicago during the summer of '75; why there was no advertising or program credit for her run not quite true-there was a souvenir-program bio insert; and how Minnelli helped turn the show into a hit.
In perhaps the most enjoyable few minutes in this set, we get a clip from Dinah Shore's '70s TV show, taken from an episode saluting Kander and Ebb. Minnelli sings "Nowadays" and then gets a big surprise that brings Ebb to tears. One can only regret that these DVDs don't also include Minnelli on a '75 Sammy Davis TV show doing her solo version of "My Own Best Friend," and Verdon and Rivera in the entire Chicago finale, as performed in '75 on Howard Cosell's TV show.
There are brief segments on production designer John Myhre and costume designer Colleen Atwood, both of whom were doing their first musical. These emphasize the need to delineate the difference between the real world of Chicago and Roxie's fantasy world. It's said that Myhre based his concepts on the work of artist Reginald Marsh.
Finally, there's a VH1-TV 2003 "Behind the Movie" documentary on Chicago, telecast sometime between that year's Oscar nominations and Oscars. This is a thirty-five-minute piece of promotional puffery, but it does include some interesting information i.e. Renee Zellweger didn't understand the script or concept and didn't initially want to do the film, along with some misinformation the role of Billy Flynn was not created for a dancer.