Chicago: Did this film need the music, or would it have been better without it? Explain your answer.

The film Chicago is an American musical film released in 2002. The story is set in Chicago during the Jazz Age.

This movie needed to have the music that it has, for several reasons. First, the movie is based on the musical of the same name. Naturally, music is an essential component of a musical. Moreover, music was a very important element of the Jazz Age. This time period (1920s) is remembered for being innovative and experimental when it came to music, and the use of music in the film reminds the audience of some well-known features of the 1920s, such as vaudeville and jazz. Finally, the protagonists are in "show business," which means that music is a large component of their lives.

The music in Chicago (2002) is key for the film, not only because it is a musical, but because it presents the life of vaudevillians during the Jazz Age.

Explanation:

In Rob Marschall's Chicago (2002) is based on a Broadway crime-musical created in the 1970's, which in turn was inspired by a 1926 play by Maurine Watkins.

The musical acts in the theatre are staged following the classical vaudeville acts of the 1920's. In the film, mosts of this acts are presented as if they where in the mind of one of the main characters, Roxie Hart, a housewife who madly desires to become a performer as the other main character Vellma.