Bullets and Broads: Celebrated Criminality in "Chicago" and "The Great Gatsby"

"...You are about to hear a story of murder, greed, lust...all those things we hold dear to our hearts."

-The MC

"In case you shake apart and want a brand new start
to do that jazz."

In the musical "Chicago," we follow the story of Roxie Hart (the blond woman on the right in the above picture), a feisty and ambitious young woman living in Prohibition-era Chicago. As the charismatic MC states in the musical's opening line, this show's risque nature is revealed almost immediately, when Roxie and her lover, Fred Casely, are shown in the throes of passion as the ensemble sings the seductive "All That Jazz" in the background. Things take a turn for the worst when Roxie shoots Casely to death for breaking up with her. It all goes downhill from here, as the cops drag her to prison soon after the crime.

It is in prison that she meets the famous Velma Kelly (the woman on the left in the above), a performer-turned-murderess who has become famous for the brutality of her crime. Kelly shirks Roxie's fangirl behavior at first, but when Roxie teams up with Velma's lawyer, the silver-tongued Billy Flynn (pictured in the center), she gains her own stardom, as Flynn turns her crime into an even bigger treasure than Kelly's.

 

Flynn works the press like puppets in the song "Both Reached for the Gun."

Roxie goes on to become a superstar within prison walls, surpassing Velma Kelly with her celebrity. The public goes wild when the two decide to team up, fulfilling Roxie's long-time wish of being a famous performer, and regaining Velma's celebrity (which Roxie had snatched entirely).

Adele's hit song "Rumour Has It" is a great fit
for Gatsby, as it deals with the flagrant and
infectious nature of rumors.

This theatre classic connects seamlessly to the celebrated criminality in The Great Gatsby. Even before we officially meet Gatsby for the first time, Nick hears wild rumors about his origins and wealth, ranging from him being "a German spy during the war" to "he killed a man" (44). Nick, though appalled at the ridiculous claims made by Gatsby's guests, is impressed. He remarks that "It was a testimony to the romantic speculation he inspired that there were whispers about him from those who had found little that it was necessary to whisper about in this world," exclaiming his wonder in Gatsby's ability to entice the wealthy with his (supposed) criminality.

Gatsby is, in many ways, very similar to the heroine of Chicago, Roxie Hart. Both are from poor roots. Both move to the East in search of a more exciting life (Gatsby from the West and Roxie from Mississippi [or so she claims to the media!]). And, most importantly, both have dreams of a better lifestyle that they achieve through criminality. The flashy and lavish nature of their success is seen on the left, in this scene from The Great Gatsby, showing one of Gatsby's parties. An interesting point about both the East and the American Dream is made in the similarity between Roxie and Jay's stories.

Regarding the East, both Fitzgerald and Ebb/Fosse emphasize the powerful criminal cultures there. In Gatsby’s case, Meyer Wolfsheim and his ilk provide the criminal element that leads to Gatsby’s great fortune. And in Roxie’s, her frenzied murder of her lover leads to her eventual fame. As both of these characters migrated from areas of the country they regarded as more boring and slow-paced when compared to the East, the similar way in which the East challenges them makes a statement. It argues that the faster, more wild life that the East promises is not for everyone, and that any dreams one hopes to procure there will come with a price. However, it also seems that the East is a place where normally malevolent deeds are not just allowed, but celebrated. In both of their cases, criminality is a road to success, corrupting the classically pure take that the American Dream usually is associated with.

In "Chicago," the song "Cell Block Tango" is an excellent medium that connects the frequent criminality seen in the East with the celebrated and, in this case, seductive nature of the crimes.

In the East, the American Dream is rewritten from the ideal of a poor man gaining wealth and luxury with nothing but a dream and hard work. Instead, it becomes a Dream in which wealth is achieved through underhanded means and connections. Both Wolfsheim and Billy Flynn serve as deceptive agents through which our protagonists reach fame, eliminating the need for the hard work that one is supposed to endure to reach the American Dream. Furthermore, in both of these stories, the supposed wealth and celebrity that Gatsby and Roxie attain are proven to be transparent in both of the works’ conclusions.

For Gatsby, his funeral is very nearly a no-show, showing that, ironically, his mystique lied purely in the mystery of his origins. Without his criminality to gossip about, the guests who flocked to his house every night for parties could care less about him.

And for Roxie, her stardom inevitably fades when yet another hotheaded young woman commits a vicious murder in Chicago, usurping Roxie’s throne and pushing her back into the anonymity that she dreamed so long of escaping. Her fame, as Flynn taunts towards the end of the show, was “a flash in the pan.”

Kitty Baxter, the latest murderess blowing up the Chicago papers with headlines as:

BULLETS AND BROADS! ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MURDER!

In the end, the East’s obsession with the charming magic of criminality will never truly fade, as those from more “boring” parts of the U.S. continue to flock there in hopes of grandeur. It is this cycle of hope and crime that fuels the theme of Criminal Celebrity that both Chicago and TGG employ, and will continue to fill the exciting East with “romantic speculation."