West Ranch Theatre presents ‘Chicago, Teen Edition’
In the Roaring ’20s in the big city, if there’s enough “razzle dazzle,” you just might get away with murder. That’s the premise of the hit musical “Chicago,” which has enjoyed success for nearly 50 years, and was based on true-crime stories a century ago.
Audiences are invited to come relive the spectacle as West Ranch Theatre presents “Chicago, Teen Edition,” at 7 p.m. May 2, 3, and 4, with an understudy performance at 2 p.m. May 4.
Chicago tells the story of chorus girls Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, who are both in jail, facing the gallows, on murder charges. Representing them in court is silvertongued attorney Billy Flynn, who seeks to bamboozle the jury and set his clients free.
“If you can present the correct facade, not only will you get away with whatever you want to get away with at this time, but then you become a celebrity,” Jarod Spradling, West Ranch High’s theater director, said in a news release.
Written by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb, with music by John Kander, the show features the songs “All That Jazz,” “Cell Block Tango,” “Roxie,” and “When You’re Good to Mama.” It debuted on Broadway in 1975, and a 2002 film version starring Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-jones and Richard Gere won the Best Picture Oscar.
“Audiences already have connections to these characters, from Chita Rivera (who originated the role of Velma on Broadway) to Renee Zellweger,” Spradling said. “The fun of doing a revival of a musical like ‘Chicago’ is finding the new life in a piece that is so familiar to so many in the audience. What I’m most proud of with these students is that I think we’ve actually done that very well.”
The musical was based on a play of the same name, written in 1926 by a Chicago Tribune reporter who had covered several high-profile murder cases with female defendants. Their jury acquittals sparked a media frenzy, turning the defendants into celebrities. The play “Chicago,” with characters based on composites from real cases, ran on Broadway for 172 performances and was turned into films, as well.
“The fact that it is based on a true story indicates that not much has changed,” Cora Howard, a junior playing Velma Kelly, said in the release. “There is still corruption, still political discrepancies, and those that are wealthy can still get away with quite a lot.”
With prison providing the main setting, Spradling cited escapism as one of the show’s themes: “Everyone is trying to escape something in this show. With the exception of maybe (Roxie’s hapless husband) Amos, you have Roxie trying to escape her life, Velma trying to get out of prison, Matron Mama trying to escape poverty.”
The characters approach their task with manipulation and selfcenteredness, with “selfagency and self-advocacy” presenting another theme, Spradling said.
“She’s a pretty terrible person,” senior Dani Sligh said about her character, Roxie Hart, accused of murdering her lover. “She only had one good influence in her life, her husband Amos, and she threw him aside. In everything, she’s just in it for herself, and for fame, and she never truly gets what she wants.”
Likewise, Howard said that Velma, a vaudeville star accused of killing her husband and sister, “will do whatever she needs to do to get herself into a more advantageous position.”
“I think one of the main draws to ‘Chicago’ is that it’s not what immediately comes to mind when you think of musicals,” Howard said. “The average musical is cheery, peppy, very Disney. This is not Disney.”
Spradling said he enjoys directing musicals because they allow for a much larger cast, giving more actors the opportunity to perform. Additionally, he called musical theater “a great teacher of responsibility.”
“You not only have to know your lines, but your choreography, and blocking, and staging movements,” Spradling said.
Spradling credits his creative team, with Sarah Busic’s choreography and Jennifer Teague’s vocal direction, in helping pull together this “huge endeavor.”
“Obviously a production of this magnitude could not happen if it weren’t for a group of collective artists working together to make it happen,” he said.
Sligh praised the team as well, particularly noting Busic’s period-appropriate choreography, with a heavy emphasis on the vaudeville-style performances that make ‘Chicago’ what it is.
“I can confidently say ‘Chicago’ is going to be a great show,” she said.
“Chicago, Teen Edition,” will be performed at the West Ranch Auditorium, 26255 W. Valencia Blvd. Tickets ($17 for general admission; $12 for seniors/ veterans) are available at the door or online at www.onthestage.tickets/ west-ranch-theatre.