Jamie Lammers, Nederland. On April 11-13 and 19-20, the Nederland Middle-Senior High School Theater Department performed the high-school version of the classic Broadway musical Chicago. The story follows Roxie Hart (portrayed by Meagan Figgins), a woman who lives in the city of Chicago during the 1920s. In the opening of the show, she fatally shoots Fred Casely (Damon Vigil), a man whom she had an affair with that night. A police officer (James Lammers) is called to the scene, and he interviews her husband, Amos (Townes Bakke) about what happened. He comes up with a story to protect her, but eventually tells the officer the truth when he discovers that she lied to him about who the man was. She is taken into custody and meets a group of women who were also arrested for murdering their significant others. The one she competes with the most is Velma Kelly (Sasha Godsil), a nightclub singer whom has been launched to success with the help of the head of the jail, Matron “Mama” Morton (Marguerite Bradley). Roxie starts competing with her when she convinces Amos to pay to hire Velma’s lawyer, Billy Flynn (Jakob Duncan), the most coveted lawyer in the city of Chicago. He helps Roxie get to the top headlines of town after they make a new version of the story to tell to the press. She becomes the most talked-about woman in the city, and she starts to relish her new-found fame, competing with Velma at every turn to make sure she doesn’t steal the limelight back.

Velma Kelly was portrayed by Sasha Godsil in her final performance at Nederland before her graduation. Her incredible vocals and dancing (particularly in the number “I Can’t Do It Alone”), layered and nuanced acting and bombastic stage presence made her performance in particular stand out. Megan Figgins joins her as the everlasting-thorn-in-her-side Roxie Hart. She embodied the character of Roxie Hart, giving a sense of attitude and desperation that the character requires in order to work, showing off all of these qualities in her title number, “Roxie”. Townes Bakke received a lot of sympathy from the audience as Roxie’s barely-noticed husband, Amos, as he belts out his signature number, “Mr. Cellophane,” and sadly states that no one ever notices him. Jakob Duncan came out of nowhere as the one and only Mr. Billy Flynn, and his slimy, conniving portrayal of the character sucked the audience into his story from his introduction in the number “All I Care About.” Marguerite Bradley grabs the audience with her opening number, “When You’re Good to Mama,” and keeps Mama’s confidence and attitude going all the way through the show.

To top it off, all of the ensemble members give it their all, staying in character and excelling in their dance sequences and background vocals every time any combination of them comes on to join the stars of the show.

The choreography was possibly some of the most intense in the history of Nederland Middle-Senior High School. Director Elizabeth Evans says that the “technically of making it [Bob] Fosse” was the biggest challenge of the choreography. Thankfully, with top-notch choreographers and dedicated and fast-learning students, the movements of Fosse popped and electrified the audience with the energy they emanate. The costume changes were also particularly challenging, with some actors having to run off stage for one scene and change their entire outfit for the next scene, all in the span of ten to fifteen seconds. On top of that, each actor was responsible for their own props and chairs, adding to the level of complication if someone forgot a prop. Workarounds were found for all of these situations, however, including people that helped gather props and change costumes in especially difficult transitions, carrying props and chairs onstage for other actors if necessary, and even gluing props onto tables to prevent actors from forgetting them (the gavel was the one prop that apparently could not be pantomimed).

The audience of the show gave a standing ovation every single performance of Nederland’s Chicago, and the students and the directors are very proud of the work that they were able to accomplish. The work that went into the show paid off in every scene, with top-notch choreography, energetic and engaging performances, incredible tech, and beautiful costumes taking the audience back to the mid-1920’s and absorbing them from the very opening number.

Photos Courtesy of Alan Brewer and Scott Bakke.

(Originally published in the May 2, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)