Chicago 50 - No. 41 - Razzle Dazzle
- Lauryn Johnson
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
KANDER: I remember when we wrote "Razzle Dazzle," before we took it in and played it for Bob, you said with absolute confidence, "Try adding a couple of finger snaps to it. Bobby will love that." We added them, and then we took it in and played it for Bob, and as soon as he heard the finger snaps, he loved the song.
--Colored Lights: Forty Years of Words and Music, Show Biz, Collaboration, and All That Jazz by John Kander Fred Ebb, Greg Lawrence
Jerry Orbach: "In Razzle Dazzle, it’s a whole different story. What happened then was the sharp lawyer in the pinstripe suit with the little thin mustache. And I explained that when we go to the trial, it’ all showbiz. It’s all razzle dazzle. And what I did was I took off the jacket and I had suspenders underneath. Pulled the shirt out of my pants to blouse it out, messed up my hair, and put on a little pair of wire-rimmed glasses on my nose, and I became Clarence Darrow, and then did Razzle Dazzle.
So I changed in front of the audience, which was something I borrowed from sort of a French thing where, you know, you go from one character to another in front the audience. Those are things that we invented at the time.
Michael Kantor: If you would, give us a sense of, you know, Billy Flynn. There's this great line, 'give them the hocus-pocus, bead and feather them. How can they see with sequins in their eyes?' Or something from 'Razzle Dazzle' or 'All I Care About with Love' that just speaks to how, you now, there's this showbiz sleight of hand going on."
Jerry Orbach: Well, in Razzle Dazzle, when he says "how can they see with sequence in their eyes?", it's the same thing a magician does, razzle dazzle. He's making you look at this hand while he does something over here with this hand. That's basically all it's about, fooling the jury, fooling a judge, making them believe one thing when something else is possible, you know.
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