Chicago 50 - No. 44 - Nowadays

Chita and Gwen perform the new finale: Nowadays

Chita: "Bobby and Freddy had always struggled with how to end Chicago. After Roxie is acquitted in her trial and Velma in hers (offstage), they put together a vaudeville act to take advantage of their notoriety. When Velma suggests the merger, Roxie has a ready answer: 'You're forgetting one thing. We hate each other.' Velma replies, 'Yeah, but there's only one business where that doesn't matter.' True. Like I said, Bobby was so good at something he had so much contempt for.

"In Philly, the finale had Gwen honking on a sax and me banging on drums as part of a song medley of Loopin de Loop and It (If a girl doesn't have 'it' she can fuggedaboutit. Drawing attention to the show's cynical theme, a guy in the audience then jumps up and attacks us as two no-talent murdering 'floozies' with a cheesy act. "Why should we cheer for the likes of youse?" It was a sour end to a sour show and nobody was satisfied, particularly Gwen, who wanted Roxie to triumph in the end.

"John and Freddy offered to write a new song but Bobby was obsessed with trying to get it right. Finally, in desperation, the producers persuaded him to give in and they approached John and Freddy to ask if they wouldn't mind writing something a bit more sophisticated. They went off and within an hour had composed a new song, 'Nowadays.' They wrote it so fast that they didn't deliver it until the next day so nobody would think they hadn't worked hard enough on it.

"'Nowadays' was a miracle of a song. Its bright optimism reinvigorated the entire show. 'You can like

Chita and Gwen perform Nowadays on a television appearance

the life you're living, you can live the life you like...' The sheer brilliance of John Kander and Fred Ebb. Velma and Roxie figured out that if you don't take responsibility for your actions, then how can you be blamed? The absurdity of it all! Somebody up there may love us, but that Somebody up there is also laughing at us. We're just a bunch of flawed, crazy people trying to make our way out of unforced errors as best we can.

"Gwen and I had a ball dancing to 'Nowadays,' along with 'Hot Honey Rag' In our sequined white minishorts, top hats, and canes, lit to reflect every color of the rainbow, we were the personification of the Jazz Age.

"Bobby had the audacity to present us as 'poetry in motion, two moving as one.' Each of our movements was perfectly matched to the microsecond. We went all-out on 'Hot Honey Rag,' as the emcee announced: 'Okay, let's pick up the pace, let's shake the blues away, let's make the party longer, the skirts shorter and shorter, let's make the music hotter. Let's all go to town in a fast car and keep it hot!'

Chita and Gwen perform Nowadays on a television appearance

"And we did, changing into fringed skirts that whipped around in time to the music. I was proud to be next to Gwen. The proximity made me feel taller, bigger, and more accomplished than I had ever felt before in my life. It was, simply, exhilarating. We apparently conveyed that to the audiences as well because they began to like the show.

--Chita: A Memoir by Chita Rivera