The Broadway musical Chicago came to UW-Platteville on Wednesday, May 7 for performances at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Chicago is presented by Troika Entertainment, a New York based company that has been producing musicals for the past 20 years. Some of these musicals include: Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats and Evita, which came to UW-P last September.

“We try to bring a musical in once or twice a season,” Director of Performing and Visual Arts, John Hassig, said. “Chicago is an extremely well-known musical and got made into a movie. It’s an exciting show with great music.”

The musical is based on the 1962 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins. The story surrounds a nightclub dancer named Roxie Hart, who dreams of starring in Vaudeville. She murders her lover, a nightclub regular, Fred Casely. She convinces her husband to hire a defense lawyer named Billy Flynn. Flynn turns Hart’s crime of passion into celebrity headlines and she becomes the center of attention until other crimes start to occur taking away her fame.

“This is a story of murder, greed, corruption, sex and the power of celebrity,” Hassig said.

The musical was created by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and choreographed by Bob Fosse. Chicago first opened on Broadway on June 3, 1975 and had 898 performances. The current version of the musical, which this performance is based on, opened on Broadway in November 14, 1996 and is still running today.

“Chicago is one of the longest running shows in New York,” Hassig said.

Miramax films made Chicago into a big screen hit in 2002. The film starred Renee Zellweger as Roxie Hart, Catherine Zeta-Jones as Velma Kelley and Richard Gere as Billy Flynn. The movie won multiple Oscars including Best Supporting Actress and Best Picture.