This weekend I had the opportunity to see a local production of the musical Chicago at the Bama Theater. Chicago is a musical based on the play written in 1926 by Maurine Dallas Watkins (a reporter) about criminals and crimes she reported on and centers around two women— Velma Kelly and Roxie Heart— who are on trial for murder. Velma Kelly’s character is based on Belva Gaertner who was on trial for murdering a man named Walter Law, and Roxie Hart’s character is based on Beulah Annan who was on trial for murdering a man named Harry Kalstedt. The play proved to be extremely popular, making it to Broadway in 1926, and was even turned into a silent movie in 1927. In the 1960s, after becoming a born-again Christian, Watkins came to believe that her play glamorized a scandalous lifestyle, and as a result, refused to sell the rights to her play to anyone. After her death in 1969, however, her estate sold the rights to the play to Richard Fryer, Gwen Verdon, and Bob Fosse, who transformed it into the musical version that is still around today.
At the start of Chicago, Velma Kelly is already in prison for the murder of her husband and her sister, and is a celebrity criminal. We are then introduced to Roxie Hart, who murders Fred Casely, a man she is having an affair with who was trying to walk out on her. Roxie Hart is sent to the women’s block in jail where she meets Mama, the woman in charge of the prison, and Velma. Velma is at first indifferent to Roxie, as she only cares about her status as a criminal celebrity and getting out of jail so that she can star in her own show. After learning that Velma’s lawyer, Billy Flynn, is the best defense attorney in Chicago, she hires him to defend her in court. Roxie Heart instantly becomes the new criminal celebrity, gaining even more fame when she pretends to repent and fakes a pregnancy. When this happens, Velma’s fame begins to fade. Roxie, like Velma, also has a dream to star in her own show, and hopes that her newfound fame as a pregnant, repentant, murderess will help ensure her success. She becomes extremely self-centered due to all the attention the press gives her, that she refuses to listen to her lawyer’s advice and fires him. Right before her trial however, one of her fellow inmates becomes the first female to receive the death penalty and be hanged for murder, and a scared and desperate Roxie pleads with Billy Flynn to represent her again. Roxie ends up stealing all of Velma’s ideas of how to sway the jury in her favor. The jury acquits Roxie just as another, even more sensational crime takes place, and the press leaves Roxie’s trial to go report on the new crime. Roxie realizes that her newfound fame is over. Her husband approaches her, ready to take care of her and her baby, when she confesses that she is not really pregnant, and he leaves her. In the end, Roxie and Velma (who also got her acquittal), team up and become a new act.
The cast of Chicago did an incredible job bringing the musical to life, and even featured some University of Alabama students—Ally Forehand (a junior), Jessie Hocutt (a senior), Miller Coop (a junior), and Julie Meeks (a senior). I particularly enjoyed the performances given by Amber Abrams (who played Mama), Julie Meeks (who played Roxie), Matt Cornelson, (who played Billy Flynn), Alisha Powell Lay (who played Velma), Michael Manos (who played Amos Hart), and Carly Jo Sonier (who played Mary Sunshine). The musical numbers were sensational, and the performance hit the high notes perfectly. Some of my favorites were “All That Jazz,” which was the opening number performed by Velma Kelly and the ensemble; “We Both Reached For the Gun,” which was a ventriloquist-type act in which Roxie acts like a dummy with Flynn pulling her strings and telling the press the fictional version of what happened on the night she committed the murder; “Cell Block Tango,” which is a comedic number that features the girls in the prison singing about why they committed murder; and “Mr. Cellophane,” which is a brilliant piece sung by Roxie’s husband, Amos, about how he feels invisible to the world. The dancing in Chicago relied heavily on “jazz hands” which emphasized the satirical nature of the musical on how easily the justice system was manipulated during the 1920s and how obsessed the public was with crimes and criminal celebrities that by giving the public what they wanted—a “razzle, dazzle” performance– you could get them to believe whatever lie you tell them.
The show is extremely risqué as the show is about murder, sex, and lust and most of the costumes are lingerie-type pieces. The costumes for this show, however, were not as racy as the ones on the Broadway version as the costume designer (an extremely talented young woman named Christian Procter) kept in mind that some of the cast members were high school students and that most of the audience members would likely be Tuscaloosa natives.
Chicago is definitely not a show for children, and even adults need to remember to look at the morals of the show with a critical eye as none of the characters are ever sorry for any of their transgressions. That being said, however, the music, dancing, and acting in Chicago are captivating, and this local production of it, had the entire audience in constant laughter.
Just a quick note about a fine arts event at the Bama Theater since I won’t have time to post the critical blog about it tonight- it was amazing. It costs $13 for a student ticket, but it is completely worth the money. The cast was wonderful, and I think many of you would enjoy it. It is only showing until Sunday. There are two shows tomorrow (Saturday)- one at 2pm and one at 7:30pm. There is one on Sunday at 7:30 pm. I really think you should consider attending- I loved it.
These are some photographs that my sister took around the Old City in Aleppo, Syria.
This week I visited the photography exhibit on the 2nd floor of the Amelia Gorgas Library. Kay Barnett, the photographer, decided to learn more about the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, or Trappists, by taking photographs to document their lifestyle. Trappists is a Catholic religious order of contemplative monks who follow the Rule of St. Benedict. The photographs all had religious captions underneath them (some of them Biblical verses) that captured the essence of the what was going on in the photographs. I thought this was brilliant because it gave insight as to why the monks lived the way they did based on “their” beliefs. The photographs, combined with the quotes underneath them, gave an overall serine feeling to the work. It was a really interesting exhibit. I recommend that more people in class stop by to see it.
About two weeks ago I had tried to visit the Deep Impressions: Willie Cole Works on Paper arts exhibit and was disappointed to find that it was closed because of Game Day weekend. I finally had the opportunity to see the exhibit today, and I was amazed by what I saw. I typically do not like going to art galleries to look at paintings or other art works, but this exhibit was different. It was unusual- I have never seen anything like it before. Willie Cole certainly has a talent for using ordinary everyday objects hair dryers, shoes, irons, gas pumps) and producing great works of art. He seemed to have a fascination with irons, using scorches from them to produce flowers and embroider table cloths. My favorite works were the “Pressed Iron Blossoms” (blossoms made from iron imprints). I also was fascinated by a piece of art titled “America Papers IV” in which Cole created sentences out of the letters in America. The handwritten sentences and scratched over words showed creativity and thought, giving the piece a sort of personal touch, like you were reading the pages of his diary or looking at his old homework notebook. His work was extremely moving- brilliant. It was well worth going back to the exhibit a second time to see if it was open.
When I went to see “The Names of Love” at the Bama Theater on September 6th, I did not know what to expect. Based on the title, I thought perhaps it might be a story about the different ways people love each other like the love between a mother and her child, the love between two friends, and the love between siblings. I could not have been more wrong.
It turned out to be a French movie with English subtitles. The original title of the movie, “Le Nom de Gans” actually translated to “The Name of the People,” and had a clear political agenda—to break down barriers set up in French society that excludes anyone who is not of “pure” French heritage from being considered French.
The screenplay for the movie was written by Baya Kasmi and Michel Leclerc and was partly autobiographical. It centered around two main characters—Baya Benmahmoud, who had a French mother and an Algerian father, and Arthur Martin, who had a Jewish mother and a French father. Baya was a free-spirited, devout, left wing advocate and lived her life based on the slogan “Make Love Not War” and so slept with men who she deemed as “fascist” or “right-winged.” She had a complicated family history as her father fled Algeria when he was younger to escape the French invasion. Arthur Martin was a veterinarian whose political views were also left wing, although he was not as extreme in his views as Baya. He also had a complicated family history as his mother escaped Nazi rule as a child and was rescued by an orphanage who changed her last name to make her appear French. His family never discussed their family history, so he knew little about his mother’s past, and they also kept to themselves in fear that someone would discover his mother was not really French. Arthur and Baya met at the beginning of the movie, and the entire movie centers around their relationship, how they slowly change one another, and how through each other’s encouragement try to redefine what it means to be French. French society considered anyone who did not have a “pure” French heritage to be foreign. Consequentially, Arabs such as Baya’s father, as well as others who did not carry a French last name or who did not look French faced much discrimination. Neither Baya, with her French looks, nor Arthur, with his common French name, faced this fate. They simply blended in with the crowd, but because the people they loved were affected, they worked effortlessly (Baya through her unconventional methods) to try and integrate French society.
The movie showed the struggle between the main characters and their inner child. Both Baya and Arthur continuously had conversations with their younger selves in which their younger selves gave them advice. The advice was straightforward, pure, as if to show the innocence of youth and what an ideal society was through their eyes.
The overall idea of the movie was a good one—that a country’s society is made up of a wide variety of heritages that only enriches the overall culture of that country as a whole, and this medley of ethnic backgrounds is what makes the country beautiful and great. In order to do this, the movie attempted to take a comedic approach to the rather deep subjects of racism and discrimination. I say attempted because I did not find the movie very funny at all. Unfortunately, I thought this movie was hypocritical. I found the movie to be discriminatory against Arabs and Muslims, and I was as horrified as I was offended. Continuously throughout the movie, Baya referred to herself as an Arab who thought that Muslims who practiced their faith were making Arabs look bad in the eyes of others. The movie featured two types of Arabs—ones who weren’t Muslim, but said they had followed “Muslim” culture and ones who were “practicing Muslims.” Baya decided she wanted to sleep with the one guy in the movie who was supposedly a practicing Muslim, and she eventually succeeded in seducing him. The movie showed a rather graphic scene between the two of them. Shortly after this, it is suggested that the man now has control over Baya, and she was shown wearing the headscarf. I found this representation of Muslims in very poor taste. The movie also featured a scene in which Baya forgot that she is not wearing anything, walked out of her apartment and onto a subway where she sat directly across from a Muslim couple (a woman who was wearing the headscarf and veil) and a man wearing the traditional Saudi robe. The couple was shocked that she was naked, and they both averted their gaze. Baya then looked down, realized she was naked, and then addressed the man in a loud voice, asking, “What is the matter? You’ve never seen a naked woman before?” and walked off the subway. The movie also confused “Arab culture” with “Muslim culture.” These terms are not one and the same, but they were used interchangeably in the movie, with more of an emphasis on the term “Muslim culture.” These subtle hints of racism and discrimination marred the overall theme of the movie. I found it ironic that a movie that was supposed to promote togetherness and tear down racial barriers was in itself inherently racist. I did not know what to expect when I first sat down in the Bama Theater on Tuesday night, but I certainly did not expect this.
Hi.
My name is Nure Kassas. I from Birmingham, Alabama, but I’ve lived overseas for a while. I went to an American high school in Saudi Arabia and spent 3 years attending the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan. I did not take any fine arts classes in high school. Our school did not have the budget for them. Living overseas, however, has given me the opportunity to be exposed to Arabian art when I visited various countries such as Syria and the United Arab Emartes. For example, Arabic calligraphy artists and other types of Arabic artists such as carpet weavers would sell their work in the old market in Syria. I have had the opportunity to visit several art galleries before including the Lourve, and I have seen some plays and musicals on and off Broadway. I don’t consider myself much of an artist, but I do like to write poems and short stories. I am attempting to learn to play the guitar. That’s about it.
nbkassas 