Chicago Teen Edition

I was warmly welcomed on arrival by Deborah Marks and Leanne Barber and spoke with them again after the show.

Frederick Douglas Academy was founded ten years ago to provide tuition and experience in performing arts to young people in the area. This year, for the first time, two separate productions have been performed, one by the junior members and one by the seniors ie aged 11 to 18 years. This has enabled the seniors to flourish in more challenging roles and I observed the great increase in confidence by some of the cast over the last few years.

The set was simple and very effective. A large red illuminated sign showed ‘Chicago’ to ensure that the audience knew where the action was taking place A set of realistic prison bars, made by the Halstead Mens Shed were flexible and easy to move on and off, as were a small number of props, mostly tables and chairs. Costumes were supplied by the society and were attractive and period relevant. Good use was made of lighting to create atmosphere and sound levels were fine. All the cast projected really well and could be heard clearly. Music was to backing tracks and the cast all appeared to be totally in tune and time with the tracks , so well done. All due to the hard work and creativity of Singing Tutor Leanne Barber.

Casting of the main characters worked well leading to some stellar performances.

Roxie Hart was played by Ruby W and what a tremendous performance from Ruby. She danced, sang and acted with so much energy and talent. I particularly enjoyed her vocals in Funny Honey with the ensemble. Another great  performance was from Daisy D, as Velma Kelly who opened Act One with the ensemble in a rousing version of All That Jazz. Well sung and good movement.

Zachary D was the smooth talking lawyer Billy Flynn, full of cunning ideas to obtain the acquittal of Roxie and Velma. This role suited Zachary very well and allowed him to show his vocal and acting abilities.  Roxie’s devoted and rather naive husband, Amos Hart was  well played by Marley P and I loved his version of Mr Cellophane.

Erin S had an interesting role as Mama Morton, the corrupt jailor. She coped well with the need to control the prisoners and  left them in no doubt of what was required in her solo, When You’re Good To Mama.

Mary Sunshine, well acted by Hayden B was a very persistent journalist who turned out to be a man in drag. He appeared somewhat eccentric and  wore a rather elaborate costume. It was amusing to see him teetering around the stage in heeled shoes! 

The Cell Block girls, Martha C, Caitlin M, Tetti H, Ava S and Millie B all performed their roles enthusiastically and with good movement. In fact the dance movements overall were many and varied, some quite challenging thanks to the creativity of Dance Tutor Gemma Field.

This was a very polished production (shame there was only one performance!) which owes much to the vision and innovation of Director and Drama Tutor, Deborah Marks surrounded by a highly skilled production team.

Well done to everyone involved in any way. You can all be very proud of this production and the audience loved it.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.