Aaron Copland / Chicago

On this day in classical music: American composer Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1900. Known as the dean of American composers of the early to mid-20th century, Copland studied with the internationally known pedagogue Nadia Boulanger in Paris. By the late 1930s, Copland’s works began to illustrate what has since been referred to as a distinctly American sound. Open harmonies and spiky dissonances became Copland trademarks, evident in such works as “El Salon Mexico,” “Billy the Kid,” “An Outdoor Overture,” “Quiet City,” “Lincoln Portrait,” “Rodeo” and “Appalachian Spring.” By the 1950s, Copland’s compositional style changed again and began showing influences of serialism, an approach found in such late works as the “Piano Quartet,” the “Piano Fantasy,” “Music for a Great City” and “Connotations.” Copland died at age 90 in 1990. Listen to the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Vienna perform Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.” Dennis Russell Davies conducts.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVDOeUah9x4

On this day in the musical theatre: A revival of Kander and Ebb’s “Chicago” opened on Broadway in 1996. First introduced in 1975, the work was often considered ahead of its time. The musical also had the unfortunate distinction of opening in the same season as “A Chorus Line.” The latter swept the Tony Awards that year, winning nine of the 12 categories in which it was nominated. “Chicago” was nominated for 11 awards but won none. The 1996 revival was roundly praised and earned six Tony Awards. It’s still running today, having amassed 6,629 performances (as of Nov. 4) and ranks as the fourth longest-running musical in Broadway history. Watch Bebe Neuwirth and Ann Reinking perform “All That Jazz” and the “Hot Honey Rag” on the 1997 Tony Awards broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1ekRJvwS1k

Musical musings: In the pulse-racing revival of the musical “Chicago,” … all the world’s a con game, and show business is the biggest scam of all. It makes a difference, though, when the hustle involves a cast of top-flight artists perfectly mated to their parts and some of the sexiest, most sophisticated dancing seen on Broadway in years. By the time the priceless Bebe Neuwirth, playing a hoofer turned murderer, greets the audience at the beginning of the second act with the salutation “Hello, suckers!,” It’s a label we’re all too happy to accept. The America portrayed onstage may be a vision of hell, but the way it’s being presented flies us right into musical heaven. This sharp-edged, self-defined tale of “murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery” received a healthy initial run in the mid-1970’s but very ambivalent reviews. Even with such mesmerizing stars as Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera, swell vaudeville-pastiche songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb and the acutely stylish direction and choreography of Bob Fosse, “Chicago” seemed too chilly, in those days, to be truly loved in the way “Oklahoma!” or “A Chorus Line,” its warmhearted contemporary and rival, might be. Yet this new incarnation, directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by Ann Reinking (who also stars), makes an exhilarating case both for “Chicago” as a musical for the ages and for the essential legacy of Fosse, whose ghost has never been livelier than it is here.What this production makes clear is how much “Chicago” is about the joy of seducing an audience that goes to the theater, above all, to be seduced. Fosse, who had a fiercely conflicted relationship with his profession, may have regarded entertainers as applause-addicted grifters. (Take another look at his autobiographical movie, “All That Jazz,” if you want confirmation.) This production isn’t smoke and mirrors. It’s flesh and blood shaped by discipline and artistry into a parade of vital, pulsing talent. If there’s any justice in the world (and “Chicago” insists that there isn’t), audiences will be exulting in that parade for many, many performances to come. – Ben Brantley in The New York Times

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