Chicago(play)

Chicago
Written by	Maurine Dallas Watkins
Characters	Roxie Hart,Velma,Billy Flynn,Mary Sunshine, Mrs. Morton, Amos Hart
Date premiered	December 30, 1926(1926-12-30)
Place premiered	Music Box Theatre
Genre	Satire
Setting	Cook County Criminal Court Buildingand Jail; various other locations in Chicago

Chicagois aplaywritten byMaurine Dallas Watkins.The play, while fiction, is asatirebased on two unrelated 1924 court cases involving two women,Beulah Annan(the inspiration forRoxie Hart) andBelva Gaertner(the inspiration forVelma), who were both suspected and later acquitted of murder, whom Watkins had covered for theChicago Tribuneas a reporter.

Watkins wrote the script (originally titledBrave Little Woman) as a class assignment while attending theYale Drama School.Produced bySam H. Harris,the play debuted onBroadwayat theMusic Box Theatreon December 30, 1926, directed byGeorge Abbott,where it ran for 172 performances.

The play serves as the inspiration for the stage musicalof the same name.To avoid confusion between the two and to maintain the musical's playrights held by the show producers and creators, the play is now titledPlay Ballwhen it is performed.

Real-life inspiration

Beulah Annan and Belva Gaertner, 1924

Annan, the model for the character ofRoxie Hart,was 23 when she was accused of the April 3, 1924,murder of Harry Kalstedt. TheTribunereported that Annan played thefoxtrotrecord "Hula Lou" over and over for two hours before calling her husband to say she killed a man who "tried to make love to her". She was found not guilty on May 25, 1924. Annan's husband Albert, a car mechanic who emptied his bank accounts to pay for her defense only to be publicly dumped the day after the trial, served as the basis for Amos Hart. Kalstedt served as the model for Fred Casely. Velma is based on Gaertner (also known as Belle Brown), who was a cabaret singer. The body of Walter Law was discovered slumped over the steering wheel of Gaertner's abandoned car on March 12, 1924. Two police officers testified that they had seen a woman getting into the car and shortly thereafter heard gunshots. A bottle of gin and an automatic pistol were found on the floor of the car. Gaertner was acquitted on June 6, 1924. Lawyers William Scott Stewart and W. W. O'Brien were models for a composite character inChicago,"Billy Flynn".

Plot

Roxie Hartshoots and kills Fred Casely after the latter attempts to break off an affair with her. She convinces her husband Amos to confess to the crime by convincing him that the victim was attempting a robbery; he confesses at interrogation, seeing nothing wrong withself-defense.When Amos learns that Casely was the victim, he recants, and Roxie, in a fit of anger, confesses herself. She is booked into the Cook County Jail for holding; terrified of her potential fate, Jake, a crime reporter forThe Morning Gazettenewspaper, reminds her that the Chicago justice system is relatively easy on women and that she faces minimal risk of the death penalty and substantial opportunity for brief fame, intriguing Roxie.

At the jail, she falls under the influence of Mrs. Morton, a fellow inmate who serves as matron of the women's inmate population, who regularly takes bribes. Roxie also forms rivalries with two other inmates,Velmaand Liz. Jake and Mrs. Morton hook Roxie up with Chicago's most effective defense attorney,Billy Flynn.She convinces Amos to cover the expenses, but he lacks the funds, prompting Billy to threaten to delay Roxie's trial, and thus keep her held in jail, until he gets his fee. A suggestion from Jake to auction Roxie's personal effects, coupled with Amos's newfound name recognition earning him a raise at work, raises the necessary money and then some. As the funds are being raised, Billy begins crafting a narrative and shaping Roxie's court presence. while having her feed this new narrative to thesob sisterMary Sunshine to gain public sympathy. Roxie begins stealing from Velma and Liz, both figuratively (she co-opts Velma's plan to plead temporary insanity by claiming she was drunk) and literally (intercepting and taking Velma'sMarshall Field'sdress). When another new inmate, Kitty, takes the spotlight away for the time being, Roxie comes up with a new idea: she takes a baby's outfit that Maggie, a Hungarian woman who apparently was framed for selling poisonmoonshinebut was jailed because her attorney would not put up a proper defense, had knitted in hopes of reunion with her child, and Roxie begins feigning illness and weakness—stating that she is now pregnant and risks having the baby in jail, creating a new sensational story.

Calculating that he could not possibly be the father, Amos gives serious thought to divorcing Roxie, playing into Billy's ploy to make Roxie look even more like an innocent victim. Tensions rise between Roxie and Billy as the trial approaches, with Roxie upset with Billy's approach to demonize the prosecutor because it does not give Roxie enough attention and focuses mainly on Billy's orations. The tensions cease when the date of trial arrives, and Billy sets into motion his plan. He and Roxie convince Amos, who has divorced Roxie, that Amos is indeed the father of her child, then allow Roxie to take the stand, acting out Billy's narrative as prescribed. After an impassioned closing argument, the jury deliberates. They find Roxie not guilty, but within seconds of the verdict, the entire courtroom is drawn away by yet another crime, leaving Roxie and Amos. Amos offers a new, expensive wedding ring to make amends, but she runs off with the ring, confesses there was no child, and leaves him, noting that she is on her way to a ten-week vaudeville tour.

As the play closes, Jake is pulling a reluctant Roxie in for a picture with Machine Gun Rosie, theCiceroKid—Flynn's next client, and the subject of Jake's new story.

Characters

Character	Description	Original Broadway performer
Roxie Hart	"The prettiest woman ever charged with murder in Chicago."	Francine Larrimore
Fred Casely	"The other man."	Doan Borup
Amos Hart	"Her [Roxie's] meal ticket husband."	Charles Halton
Billy Flynn	Roxie's attorney - "Best in the city, next to Halliday."	Edward Ellis
Martin S. Harrison	The assistant state's attorney.	Robert Barrat
Charles E. Murdock	A police sergeant	Charles Slattery
Jake	Reporter onThe Morning Gazette	Charles A. Bickford
Babe	Photographer onThe Morning Gazette	Arthur R. Vinton
Mary Sunshine	Sob sisteronThe Evening Star	Eda Heineman
Mrs. Morton	Matron at the Cook County Jail	Isabelle Winlocke
Velma	An inmate of Murderess Row - "Stylish divorcée"	Juliette Crosby
Liz	An inmate of Murderess Row - "God's messenger"	Dorothy Stickney
Moonshine Maggie	An inmate of Murderess Row - "Hunyak"	Ferike Boros
Go-to-Hell Kitty	An inmate of Murderess Row - "The Tiger Girl"	Edith Fitzgerald

Adaptations

Adaptation in Pécs, Hungary, January 2024

Cecil B. DeMilleproduced a silent film version,Chicago(1927), starring formerMack Sennettbathing beautyPhyllis Haveras Roxie Hart. In comparing the play to the silent movie, critic Michael Phillips writes, "Watkins' play is harsh, satirical and cynical; the movie, less so. It's more of a melodrama, and to appease the censor boards, producer DeMille meted out punishment to his sinning characters where none existed previously."

The story was adapted again as the 1942 filmRoxie HartstarringGinger Rogers;but in this version, Roxie was innocent of the murder charge against her.

In the 1960s,Gwen Verdonread the play and asked her husband,Bob Fosse,about the possibility of creating a musical adaptation. Fosse approached playwright Watkins numerous times to buy the rights, but she repeatedly declined. However, upon her death in 1969, herestatesold the rights to producer Richard Fryer, Verdon, and Fosse.John KanderandFred Ebbbegan work on the musical score, modeling each number on a traditionalvaudevillenumber or a vaudeville performer. This format made explicit the play andmusical's comparison between "justice", "show-business", and contemporary society. Ebb and Fosse penned the book of the musical, and Fosse also directed andchoreographed.The musical version in turn was adapted as the 2002 filmChicago,starringRenee Zellweger,Richard GereandCatherine Zeta-Jones;this adaptation won theAcademy Award for Best Pictureat the75th Academy Awards.

See also

• Machinal,another play from the 1920s, inspired by a real-life case of a woman convicted of murder
• The Front Page,another play from the 1920s, inspired by news coverage of the Chicago criminal justice system

External links

• Full text ofChicagoat the Internet Archive
• ​Chicago​at theInternet Broadway Database
• Chicagopublic domain audiobook atLibriVox