Returning to Chicago (2002)

Growing up, I used to think that musical movies were rather silly. Why would these people break into song and dance all of a sudden? Wouldn't it be easier to just say what they mean? I remember never finishing The Sound of Music the numerous times it was shown on the children's slot on television, much less the numerous Hindi movies shown on the same channels, many of them with running times of over four hours.

I'm not quite sure how I developed this myopic view of the genre, but in the end my aloofness towards it thawed when I was in university. I got involved in theatre, and was shown the musical Chicago. I instantly loved it, despite my initial hesitance towards musical movies. A big reason behind my being able to enjoy it was thanks to its ability to suspend my disbelief, by having the characters either sing and dance 'in their head', or actually perform on stage.

Thanks to the Rob Marshall-helmed musical, I eventually learnt to appreciate more conventional musicals, as well as musical films in general. Over the years, I've enjoyed West Side Story, the Producers, Les Mis, Hairspray, Dreamgirls, Grease! Rocky Horror Picture Show and many more (funnily enough, I've never finished watching The Sound of Music) I've also gone to watch the Puteri Gunung Ledang show, as well as the touring productions of Chicago and Jersey Boys.

Last year, with the pandemic confining my wife and I to our home, we spent our time watching movies. One day I decided to rewatch Chicago (she'd never watch it). To my surprise, that rewatch has ended up changing my opinion of the musical.

Now I'm not saying I no longer enjoy it, I still do. But rewatching it having grown to appreciate the genre, Chicago now seems as if it was ashamed of its primary method of story-telling. The same tactic employed to make it's catchy numbers more believable to philistines like me; to have them sung 'in their head' now seems like a method that was employed by its makers because they agreed yes, it doesn't make sense for these people to suddenly break into song and dance.

I remember thinking to myself when one of the first songs in the movie came on, 'Funny Honey' I think it was, just how much better the song would have been instead had Roxie Hart sung it in the middle of the police interrogation of his hapless husband. Alas, this nagging feeling remained with me until the final credits.

I suppose I should be happy that this method never turned into a trend, and that most American musicals that came out post-Chicago have been conventional musicals.

I'm now waiting for the new West Side Story. At first I had thought that the remake was rather superfluous, considering that the original movie was perfect to me. And Spielberg? A musical? But then the trailer came out and I ended up loving the energy bursting through. Maybe I'd underestimated it after all.

My VERDICT: Despite the slight change in my opinion towards it, Chicago still gets a solid 8/10 from me due to the strength of the performances. And I don't think there's another musical out there with a song roster as catchy as Chicago's. 

Song and dance

Musical movies are one genre that I enjoy watching immensely . There's something about musicals that is hard to dislike. A good musical usually has a combination of these three elements; a well-choreographed dance sequence, catchy songs and hilarious turns by a number of the characters.

The funny thing is, I used to dismiss the genre as fluff, while growing up. I saw Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Sound of Music, all of which was a little too childish for my liking so I decided to not pay too much attention to the genre as a whole. Furthermore, I found it very, very hard to suspend my disbelief at the sight of a bunch of people breaking into song and dance mid-conversation.

But one movie arrived to change my perception of the whole genre and the potential it has to escape beyond the fluff and escapism.

Chicago (2002)

Initially, I had heard about this movie and its multiple Oscar wins, but since it is a musical, I had not paid it any mind. And then in university I got involved in theatre and someone showed it and I was completely blown away by it. The movie is about two stage performers who murder their respective partners who then take advantage of their trials to vie and stay in the spotlight. First of all, it succeeded in making me suspend my disbelief with the whole song and dance schtick, using the 'it's all in their head' method of explaining away the characters penchant for singing and dancing. I bought it, and afterwards I found it easier to accept the notion that in musical-movie universe, people do it all the time, even when they do not employ 'it's all in the head' method.

Secondly, Chicago is very cynical and is a dark comedy. It's lampooning of narcissism, infidelity, the justice system and the act of murder sits well with my preference, after the unicorn-sunshine-and-rainbow aesthetics of the Disney musicals. 

Finally, of course it would not have worked if not for its song and dance. The songs are all catchy, and after watching more musicals, I realised that the choreography in Chicago is magnificent. A lot of musical movies unimaginatively transplants their stage production (where most musical movies originate from) onto the silver-screen, but Chicago understands and utilises the advantage owned by the silver screen, to do more than just duplicate its stage production. I give this one a solid 10/10.

Grease (1978)

This movie needs very little explanation, and I also enjoyed it. Like Chicago, its strength is its evergreen songs, and despite its high-school setting (and the oldest-looking American high-schoolers), is at times crass and deals with topics that are not suitable for teenagers such as teenage pregnancy, and contraception. The choreography is a bit straightforward, but every scene with John Travolta is simply mesmerising. No wonder he was the hot stuff in the 70's. Grease gets an 8/10 from me.

The Producers (2005)

This is among the few relatively-recent musical movies that I enjoy immensely. The movie, about a theatre producer and his associate who come up with a scheme to stage a sure-to-fail production to fleece the investors' money, has a bit of a kooky beginning. It originated as a very successful non-musical movie by renowned comic and lampoonist Mel Brooks in 1968, and then in the 2000's he adapted it into an equally successful stage musical, so from there it was only natural that it would find its way to the silver screen. It is a bit of a straightforward adaptation, but since the source material is already good to begin with, the movie adaptation is able to get away with it.

In addition to being hummable, the songs are downright hilarious and at times almost juvenile, and have that trademark Mel Brooks-wit. It is not as dark as Chicago, but the crass-meter is through the roof with Producers. It lampoons everything from homosexuality, Nazism, old ladies, and the Swede. I remember watching it at the cinema and getting my stomach cramped from laughing too hard. And what was even more remarkable, not one second of it was censored by FINAS. Somebody there must love musicals. Or is gay. This, too, gets an 8/10 from me.

Honourable mention

West Side Story (1961) - A bit serious for a musical, but it does drama very well. Wonderful choreography.

Les Miserables (2012) - Strong first act is let down by focus on weepy love story in the second. Not really the movie's fault, the source material goes that way.

Hairspray (2007) - Similar origin to Producers. Non-musical movie gets turned into a stage musical into a movie musical. Bubble-gummy and colourful first half is replaced by preachy love-letter to multi-culturalism in the second.