Is Chicago's Oscar Glory Music to Movie Ears???

The fresh Oscar glory of the motion picture adaptation of Kander and Ebb's Chicago has given fresh fuel to those anticipating a larger stage-to-screen musical trend (See The Goss, 21 Jan 2003). This week - adding to its accolades so far from the Golden Globes, Evening Standard, BAFTA and others - Chicago received a whopping 13 Oscar nominations, the most of any of this year's film releases and a tally not matched by a musical since Lionel Bart's Oliver! in 1968. Amongst the many Oscar prizes Chicago is up for are Best Picture, Best Actress (Renee Zellwegger) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Meanwhile, the latest screen projects of British stage directors Stephen Daldry and Sam Mendes have also fared well. The Road to Perdition, Mendes' follow-up to 2000's five-time Oscar winner American Beauty, has nabbed six nominations while Daldry's homage to Virginia Woolf, The Hours (scripted by British playwright and recent Whatsonstage.com Award winner David Hare), is in contention for nine Academy Awards, including Best Actress (Nicole Kidman), Best Picture and Best Director for the man himself.

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