I shouldn't be shocked, but I am, that this thing is actually associated with the Broadway show (as opposed to, say, a well-meaning college production.)
Disclaimer: I've always hated the revival album, from which this track is clipped – and I mean clipped (hear the awkward, amateur edit on the last chord, which of course continues on the album.) The sonics and musicianship are vastly the inferior to the still-shimmering, thrilling 1975 original recording.
The choreography is insipid (the Charleston? In CHICAGO? Really? Fortunately I don't believe in an afterlife, or I'd picture Fosse and Verdon and Reinking all spinning in their graves in perfect unison, three moving as one) – as is the performing, with all that ooh-la-la-ing and tongue-writhing and look-how-hot-I-think-I-am rubbish. There's not a trace of the full-body commitment and expertise (to say nothing of an ounce of sensuality) that makes even the filtered-down revival exciting.
Last time I saw the show, maybe a few months ago, I was surprised what reasonably good shape it was in (I saw it just as Charlotte d'Amboise was about to leave.) The ensemble was overacting and shticking by a factor or 5 or 10, but their dancing was great to watch, within the limitations of the choreographic downgrade. |
