The Drama Nerds Database
Chicago

Chicago

Shows · Chicago

Chicago is an American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Chicago in the Jazz Age, the musical is based on the 1926 play of the same name by Maurine Dallas Watkins, then a journalist covering the city's courthouse beat.

Opened
1975
Performances
936
Type
Musical
Era
Revolution
Music: John KanderLyrics: Fred EbbBook: Fred Ebb & Bob Fosse

Productions4 on Broadway

1926 Music Box Theatre Original. December 30, 1926 · George Abbott · predates this show 172 performances
1975 46th Street Theatre Revival. June 3, 1975 · Bob Fosse 936 performances
1996 Richard Rodgers Theatre Revival. November 14, 1996 · Walter Bobbie 9,999 performances
2006 Cambridge Theatre Original.

Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. 1 of these predate the show itself and are almost certainly a different work of the same name. Shown, marked, not merged. West End runs are not yet held.

Recordings 23 albums held

no art held
Chicago: A Musical Vaudeville (Original Broadway Cast Recording) Masterworks Broadway
no art held
Chicago (1999 Tørring Amtsgymnasium cast)
no art held
Chicago (1975-08-08 Broadway cast)
no art held
Chicago: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture
no art held
Chicago: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture Epic
no art held
Chicago (1975 original Broadway cast) Arista ATC 9005. 1975
no art held
Chicago (1975 original Broadway cast) Arista 07822-18952-2. November 12, 1996
no art held
Chicago: The Musical RCA Victor 09026-68727-2. January 28, 1997
no art held
Chicago Reverso Musikproduktionsgesellschaft 74321 583552. 1998
no art held
Chicago: The London Cast Recording RCA Victor 09026 63155-2. July 28, 1998
no art held
Chicago: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture Epic 5105322000. 2002
no art held
Chicago 2002
no art held
Chicago: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture Epic EK 87018. 2002
no art held
Chicago (2001 Studio Cast) LaserLight Digital 32 138. 2003
no art held
Chicago: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture Epic 510532 2. January 13, 2003
no art held
Chicago: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture Sony CMG. January 13, 2003
no art held
Chicago: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture BMG Direct Marketing, Inc. D146336; Epic EK 87018; Sony Music So…. January 14, 2003
no art held
Chicago: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture Epic EK 87018. January 14, 2003
no art held
Chicago: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture January 23, 2003
no art held
Chicago: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture Sony Classical 510532 2. January 23, 2003
no art held
Chicago: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture Epic ES 87018. July 15, 2003
no art held
Chicago: The Musical (10th Anniversary Edition) Masterworks Broadway 82876-89784-2. October 3, 2006
no art held
Chicago (1975 original Broadway cast) Masterworks Broadway 88697 56209-2. October 6, 2009

Licensing 2 entries

US Concord Theatricals Concord Theatricals available (amateur only)
UK Concord Theatricals Concord Theatricals withdrawn

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

44 passages naming Chicago, found by keyword across 178 books. It's where this show turns up in the literature, not curated trivia about it.

The most celebrated American operetta of the 19th century, Robin Hood was produced by a touring company that first presented it in Chicago in June 1890. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p17

Sop, after Chicago’s Broadway opening, Miss Verdon was temporarily replaced by Liza Minneli because of illness; during the run she was succeeded by Ann Reinking. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p237

An extension of Bob Fosse’s previous work in Pippin and Chicago — plus Michael Bennett’s in A Chorus Line — Dancin’ represented the final triumph of the Broadway choreographer by doing away with practically everything else but. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p242

With the arrival of Fosse , three simultaneous productions on Broadway were devoted to the work of Bob Fosse; the other two were the revivals of Chicago and Cabaret. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p302

It previewed in Chicago before it came to Broadway book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p304

Not quite the format for a long-running smash, perhaps, but the show’s innovations did turn up in later productions such as Company and A Chorus Line(non-linear stories), Hallelujah, Baby! (characters did not age over a long period of time), and Chicago (conceived as “A Musical Vaudeville”). book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-green-stanley-green-kay-5th-ed-rev-and-updated-by#p162

Something wrong here? Correct a field or report the problem. Every change is recorded in public under the contributor licence.