Where to watch Chicago (2002)

Trivia & production notes

• Bob Fosse, who directed and choreographed the original 1975 Broadway production of Chicago, died before he could adapt it into a film, though his distinctive jazz choreography style is evident throughout the 2002 version.
• The 1926 play that inspired Chicago was written by journalist Maurine Dallas Watkins, who based it on two real murder trials she covered in Chicago during the Jazz era.
• The 1996 Broadway revival of Chicago proved far more successful than the original 1975 production, running over 10,600 performances and holding the record for longest-running American musical on Broadway.
• In the 2002 film, the musical numbers are presented as scenes in Roxie's imagination rather than traditional stage performances, while the real-life scenes are shot with hard-edged grittiness.
• Principal photography took place in Toronto, Canada from December 2001 to April 2002, with the courthouse scene filmed at Osgoode Hall.
• Seven songs from the original musical score were removed from the film, including "Tap Dance," "My Own Best Friend," and "When Velma Takes the Stand," primarily because the musical numbers exist only in Roxie's imagination.
• Chicago is often credited alongside Moulin Rouge! and 8 Mile for ushering in a resurgence of the musical film genre in the 21st century.
• The film grossed $306.8 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing live-action musical at the time, though it peaked at number 3 in the North American weekly box office charts rather than reaching number 1 or 2.
• Catherine Zeta-Jones won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, while Renée Zellweger and Queen Latifah were also nominated in the acting categories.
• A deleted musical number called "Class" was filmed and recorded for the soundtrack but only appears as a bonus feature on the DVD, with an extended version broadcast on NBC in 2005.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Chicago (2002 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.