Kudos and Comedy: Chicago’s a hit

Lexi Kava, Special to the NL

The lights go down, the curtains open, the crowd grows silent, and the show has begun! On Friday November 7, 2014 the Portage Northern High School drama department welcomed anybody who wanted to come to the opening night of their rendition of the musical, Chicago. The musical follows the lives of two murderers, Roxie Hart (Isa Figueroa) and Velma Kelly (Kimberly Hawkey) in their fight to stay off the death row through fame in the early 1920’s. All the actors and actresses encased their characters perfectly to make the audience feel that they had really transported back to the 1920’s. The show was spectacular thanks to the hard work of the students and the director Ashley Bowen.

The musical had six main roles; Roxie Hart played by Isa Figueroa(10), Velma Kelly played by Kimberly Hawkey(11), Billy Flynn played by Andrew Holsomback(10), Amos Hart played by Drew Dixon(11), Mary Sunshine played by Aaron Applebey(11), and Momma Morton played by Madelyn Lockhart(11). The students did a very nice job portraying their characters, especially Hawkey  who portrayed Velma Kelly so well there was not one moment the audience didn’t believe what she was saying. The cast also all had very nice voices, some left you in awe.

The show also had its fair share of comedy but what really got the crowd laughing was when Applebey came onstage in a dress and high heels singing a happy girly song as the overly cheerful reporter Mary Sunshine. That must of took a lot of dedication for a guy to learn how to sing, talk and walk like a woman would but he stirred up the crowd in a positive way.

Every time one of the actors/resses started to sing they were joined by a group of dancers. All the dancers had to learn the style of flapper dancing. The choreography was really nicely done, all the dance moves were authentic from that time period.  There were flips and turns and splits all over. As a dancer I understand what they went through so kudos to them.They made the dances more interesting by mixing our time period’s lifts and acrobatics with the 1920’s jazz dancing.

The show was done really well. Any big fans of broadway or people who just enjoy a show in general will love this.