Chicago [1996 Broadway Revival Cast]

by Chicago - The Musical / O.c.r.

Overview

Chicago, the 1975 John Kander-Fred Ebb musical, took an unusual path to revival in 1996. Though the original show was a hit, running 923 performances, it was remembered as a triumph for choreographer/director/co-librettist Bob Fosse and stars Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera rather than for its story (based on the 1926 play that was also the basis for the 1942 film Roxie Hart, about a murderess who goes free) or its score. Nevertheless, when New York's City Center included it in its Encores! series of concert versions of forgotten musicals in the spring of 1996, much attention was paid to the murder-and-media storyline, which suddenly had surprising parallels to a certain recent trial and its surrounding legal shenanigans. And somehow the score, which had seemed merely functional 20 years before, sounded much better. Six months later, the show, still with only modest staging, was revived on Broadway to rave reviews. The resulting cast album, running the 70+ minutes possible to CDs, is far more complete than the previous one, and the cast, including Bebe Neuwirth, Ann Reinking, Joel Grey, and James Naughton, is accomplished. The music remains generic '20s pastiche, however, and the lyrics, even in a post-O.J. world, seem unremittingly arch. ~ William Ruhlmann

Product Details

Release Date:	01/28/1997
Label:	Rca Victor / Rca
UPC:	0090266872725
Rank:	63165

Tracks

1. Overture
2. All That Jazz
3. Funny Honey
4. Cell Block Tango
5. When You're Good to Mama
6. All I Care About
7. A Little Bit of Good
8. We Both Reached for the Gun
9. Roxie
10. I Can't Do It Alone
11. I Can't Do It Alone (Reprise)
12. My Own Best Friend
13. Entr'acte
14. I Know a Girl
15. Me and My Baby
16. Mr. Cellophane
17. When Velma Takes the Stand
18. Razzle Dazzle
19. Class
20. Nowadays
21. Hot Honey Rag
22. Finale

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Leslie Stifelman   Piano
Ron Raffio   Bass,Tuba
Seymour Red Press   Woodwind
Rob Fisher   Director
Bruce Bonvissuto   Trombone
Richard Centalonza   Woodwind
Daryl Shaw   Trumpet
John Frosk   Trumpet
Walter Bobbie   Director
Marilyn Reynolds   Violin
Dave Bargeron   Trombone
Kenneth Hitchcock   Woodwind
Ronald Zito   Drums
Jay Berliner   Banjo

Technical Credits

Barney Bigard   Composer
Alecia Parker   Associate Producer
Richard Rodgers   Composer
Mark Mancina   Composer
Jerry Ross   Composer
Ken Hahn   Mixing,Editing
J.J. Stelmach   Art Direction
Max Vadugal   Photography
Chris Hilt   Assistant Engineer
Dan Chavkin   Photography
Mark Johnson   Assistant Engineer
Trevor Rabin   Composer
John Kander   Composer
Bill Rosenfield   Liner Notes
Fred Ebb   Composer
James Nichols   Engineer
George Gershwin   Composer
Janet Gari   Composer
Jay David Saks   Producer
David Shire   Composer
Leonard Bernstein   Composer
Leslie Bricusse   Composer
Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky   Composer
Michel Legrand   Composer
Harold Rome   Composer
Ann Reinking   Choreographer
Miklos Rozsa   Composer
Stan Freberg   Composer
Richard Adler   Composer
Paul J. Falcone   Assistant Engineer