Originally I wanted to post ""The Crime of the Century" from Ragtime, a terrific menage-a-trois-and-murder-themed song from one of my all-time favorite musicals. ("Oh! Oh!/Harry's a jealous man/Bang! Bang!/That was the end of Stan!") Alas, I could not find a video of the Broadway cast performing this number, though I did find this clip of a summer theatre group performing it so you can at least hear the song.*
Instead, I decided to post a different (but equally great) menage-a-trois-and-murder-themed song from another one of my favorite shows: ""We Both Reached for the Gun" from Chicago. A synopsis for those who (gasp!) are unfamiliar with the plot:
Chorus girl Roxie Hart (Renee Zellweger, here in the 2002 movie version) has murdered her lover and hired slick, handsome defense attorney Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) to represent her. At a press conference, Billy spins an alternate (and false) version of the murder in which Roxie acted in self-defense (because, you know, she and her ex "both reached for the gun"). This number is staged as a ventriloquist act in which Billy supplies the words coming from the mouth of his "dummy," Roxie. Naturally, the gullible press corps -- powerless before Billy's substantial charm -- gleefully laps up his story.
So please enjoy the clip, but be warned: you'll be singing this song for the rest of the day. Oh yes! Oh yes! Oh yes, oh yes! Oh yes! Oh yes! Oh yes, you will!
*To get a taste of just how amazing Ragtime is, watch the Broadway cast perform the show's opening number at the 1998 Tony Awards (at which it won Best Original Score) here.
4 comments:
that made my day. in a prior life, i was a musical theatrist and performed in a community version of ragtime. i didn't have the belting ability to play sarah (as this was pretty low-budget - no microphones!) so i played one of the black ladies who sang in the chorus. problem was, in this "community" there were no black people, so we were pretty much bussed in from the city. although the musical called for many black actors, there were only 9 of us, including coalhouse, sarah, and booker t. and only two of us were real singers - the others were dancers brought in to do justice to the gettin' ready rag. and our costumes were awful and we complained that the costume designer was depending more on stereotypes than on looking at the actual performance. but all in all it was a great time performing in such a wonderful musical. so glad to see a fellow sociologist/criminologist with a love for musical theater! i must now go and listen to may original broadway cast recording of ragtime!
I'm telling you, gradmommy -- you, me, and ShockProf need to make the PhDivas happen! We could de-throne Larry Sherman and the Hot Spots as the reigning music act at ASC! : )
Glad you enjoyed the clips.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Well, as long as we’re on the topic, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that [title of show] opened at the Lyceum on the Broadway last night. The ShockProf and I have already bought our tickets for December. Now then, how to relate that to crime. Umm, yes, of course, well…I guess I can’t relate it to crime, but I can give you this piece of wisdom from the show for when you’re all out there writing your sparkly articles and analyses…“Writing should feel easy, like a monkey driving a speedboat.”
On a more CJ related note, what criminological theories and issues are demonstrated by Sweeney Todd? Discuss amongst yourselves…
ShockSpouse & ShockProf -- you'll need to give us a review of [title of show] after you see it in December. I'm so jealous! : )
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