‘Chicago’ Pops the Cork on 25 Years of Razzle Dazzle

Bebe Neuwirth, Joel Grey, Chita Rivera, John Kander and others discuss the Broadway revival’s surprising early success and its lasting legacy.

When “Chicago” had its debut in 1975 no one expected it to become the longest-running American musical in Broadway history.

The reviews were mixed. Walter Kerr wrote that it was “altogether too heavy to let the slender, foolish story breathe.” And though the show had a two-year run, it was dwarfed in impact by “A Chorus Line.”

It “seemed too chilly, in those days, to be truly loved,” Ben Brantley wrote two decades later, reflecting on the show’s themes of “murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery.”