Chicago The Musical

Ladies and gentlemen, you are about to see a story murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery, all the thing we hold near and dear to our hearts, thank you. 

Chicago is one of my most favourite Musicals. Mainly because it has a fresh modern feel to it, without it being too mainstream. It's set in 1924 and contains all of the vibrant life of the 20s in America, as well as the contrasting dirt and poverty.
Even though the musical is famous for it's sexiness, it also has a classical element to it, the big 20s show tunes have been modernised in the film version, however, the classic feathers and risqué dresses keep it in the right era.Unlike Les Miserables, Chicago has a large amount of dialogue, which tells the main story. The songs, all 20 of them, reveal what the characters seem to be thinking, what their dreams and aspirations or life stories are. After watching the film and the West End version of Chicago, you notice that the main colours are red, white and black. Therefore the lighting seems to be only white and red light, although there is an occasional blue light, to enhance the rare appearance of innocence in this musical.These lights are perfect as they keep within the theme exactly. The set is very simple, with black backdrop with an occasional change and only small furnishings are brought on and off stage, and also, of course, prison bars.

Obviously in the film there is a lot more going on around the actors, as you can create a much more realistic atmosphere when you can film anywhere you want, taking the audience into a small bedroom then suddenly to a crowded nightclub then to a busy street and a court room. This is much harder to achieve on stage, and I believe the crew on Chicago in the West End have done an amazing job on changing the atmosphere very slightly so the audience know where they are and the crew have done hardly anything

I was asked the other day whether I would prefer to work for film crews, my initial reaction was yes, but after thinking about it, I realised I wouldn't want to. There is such a huge difference between working on a live performance to hours after hours of the same scene. The atmosphere is completely different, you only get one shot at making a film, but after every night of a show, you can sit down and work out what you can do better tomorrow. I wouldn't want to lose that. Nothing beats listening to a whole audience laughing or gasping or, especially, clapping.