Seniors Mollie Holbrook and Sydney Parker are absolute perfection in their lead roles as Velma Kelly (Holbrook) and Roxie Hart (Parker) in the FUHS production of Chicago. Audiences have been wowed by their professional-level vocals and stage presence along with the talented principal cast including Finley Danson, Cole Frausto and Alex Thompson.
But what really makes this show work is the ensemble—the group of performers who work as one unit to support the storytelling. Chicago is built with small ensembles: 6 Merry Murderesses, 14 featured dancers, 10 newspaper reporters. Add those groups to the larger ensemble and there are about 40 performers who support the 8 principal roles.
It takes so many people to put together this show—10 adults in the creative teams, 10 adult orchestra members, 5 student orchestra members, 48 cast members and 49 crew members. So the Tribe Tribune is proud to highlight the supporting members of this amazing production.
If you haven’t seen the show, tickets are still available at fuhs.booktix.net. If you’ve already seen the show, go again. The second time around, spend some time appreciating the small ensemble groups that add up to a massive success.
In the Chicago program, sophomore Araya Wright is credited as “Ensemble, Newspaper Reporter #10,” but she is so much more. Chicago has a lot of dancing. Even with choreographer Andrea Oberlander and her assistant Samantha Monson, it was a monumental challenge to teach the ensemble—some of whom have never danced before—the steps to 11 songs.
To make sure every ensemble dancer knew their moves, Araya Wright worked with Samantha Monson to break down each step. Wright gave up several lunches to film clips that broke down the numbers into digestible lessons.
Sophomore Kayla McVicar says that Wright’s videos were a key factor in the show’s success.
“For Cell Block Tango, we all had different counts for these ripples,” McVicar said. “If Araya hadn’t helped us, the choreographer would have had to change the pieces and assign less complex moves. We also probably would have been reprimanded if we hadn’t been prepared in time.”
However, helping with “ripples” isn’t all Wright has taken on. Featured dancers have one minute to change from their men’s clothing to their ensemble costume in between “Cell Block Tango” and “When You’re Good To Mama.” Sophomore Gracie Holbrook has to cross over sides while attempting to button her costume. During dress rehearsal though, it was clear that she could not do it alone.
“Kathryn Fitzgerald helps me with my quick change after I get off, she literally just takes my pants down for me,” Holbrook said. “Then I run across and Araya, who’s actually in the ensemble, helps me button my costume. One time I was running across, and [Araya] was just like, ‘Oh, here, let me help you,’ and then she just started doing it every time.”
And that’s what makes an all-star ensemble cast member—seeing something that needs to happen (like a button) and making it happen.
Theater and big productions such as these are a collaborative effort. In order to have a seamless show, everyone has to pitch in and that is exactly what happened with Chicago. Whether it’s ensemble members helping with quick changes or a stage manager going on stage in a trench coat to liven up a scene, the “all in this together” mentality elevates Chicago from a high school show to a professional production.
Chicago is an intensely dance-heavy show and Fullerton’s production is no exception. The 14-person featured dance ensemble consists of FUHS Advanced Dance and Dance Production students. These dancers perform elaborate moves like cartwheels, backbend-walkovers, leg holds and splits. On top of executing complex choreography, dancers manage constant quick costume changes and dodge moving set elements.
Dance captain Jojo Fares says they’re on constant alert. “If you are a dancer, you’re being pushed,” Fares said. “There are several different times when you go from one 7-minute dance to a 30 second quick change back into a 3-minute dance.”
Merry Murderess and featured dancer Zoe McLaughlin is extremely grateful for junior costume crew member Mac Sheppard who has worked meticulously to make quick changes easy for the dancers by laying out each costume.
“They’re so helpful because when we all have to grab our jackets for ‘We Both Reached for the Gun,’ we have like a few lines in between then we have to go back on stage,” McLaughlin said. “Mac stands there with all of our jackets, handing everything out or our hats for ‘Razzle Dazzle’ and they’re just throwing them out in perfect timing for us.”
In addition to learning to sing and dance, the ensemble members needed to act. Assistant director Jacklyn Stickel helped them with characterization.
“In the work that I’ve been doing with actors, my main goal has just been to help each of them, regardless of how big their role is, to really create a well rounded character,” said Stickel, who is also a student teacher for theater classes this year.
Throughout the rehearsal process, Stickel asked ensemble members about their character’s tactics and motivations for each scene while also encouraging them to consider small details like how their character stands and moves. “Making sure that all the ensemble members have specificity in that way helps to really make the show as a whole come to life,” Stickel said.
In high school, Stickel was heavily involved in theater. Now a teacher, she understands the impact of individually working out the small details with students can have.
“As an educator, I think it’s important for everybody to feel like their role in the show is important,” Stickel said. “Creating moments where they can show off those characters and make those characters really specific is really fulfilling for students.”
Details matter. For example, the Technical Theater class created an authentic newspaper displaying the character Roxie Hart, so a small team had to find the best way to put actor Sydney Parker’s portrait on the newspaper just below the sensational headline.
Director Michael Despars also reached out to the Culinary Academy and the BEAST program for help with creating both real and fake drinks.
FUHS culinary students sold alcohol-free cocktails for the show. The Chicago inspired mock-tails included the “Merry Murderess” Shirley Temple and a fruity “Razzle Dazzle.”
Senior BEAST student Katherine Hudson needed more complex ingredients to create 24 fake “prop-tails.” Hudson explained the step-by-step process:
“I started off by pouring out equal parts of the resin base with the resin hardener. I’d thoroughly mix the two together, from the edges to the bottom, ensuring that it would cure properly. If it was champagne, it was okay if it had some air bubbles in it, but if it was something that needed to be a lot smoother, like a martini or like a gin and tonic, I would put it in the degassing chamber. This basically creates a vacuum, pulling all of the air bubbles to the top, so that way, when you clear the vacuum, they dissipate.”
Hudson continued: “Once I had my resin, which was either really smooth and clear, or bubbly, I would pour it with a thin stream from up high into the specific glass. Then I would usually finish it off by attaching an LED puck light on the bottom of the glass so that way you could click it on and off and have it glow or be different colors depending on what you want to do. The olives, as well as the citrus rinds, were sculpted from clay. But most of the fake fruit or like the rose petals that were used as garnish were just like plastic things that you could just order online.”
Another huge assist was the 15-member live orchestra which included five FUHS students. One challenge the orchestra faced was practicing the “Courtroom Scene” because without the actors present, they were unable to practice the timing. The orchestra only practiced the number three times before opening night.
Conductor Troy Trimble led the group through the score, added scene transition music and made sure the musicians played the right character cues. It appeared as if the orchestra had rehearsed with the actors for months rather than just a few days.
Singing to live music was new for many actors. Orchestras have been missing from most musicals since COVID. The musical Chicago was the perfect show to bring back live music. With the jazz themes, this show cries out for a live band-esque style of music to complement the speakeasy feel.
Lighting designer senior Micah Plick says that about 460 uniquely designed cues are needed for the show. Before he designs the type of lighting for each scene, he goes through the script and notes what each song should look and feel like.
“Then I’ll look through the lighting plot, see which lights I have and which colors I want to put in because right now they’re gel lights so you can’t change them. You put in a film that you put in front of the light. It’ll change the color. Once it’s that color it stays that color where you can change it on the phone so I’ll go through the list to pick out the gels I want and then I can only use those for the whole show.”
Tech teams also designed and created the two Chicago Club and Roxie signs.
To create wardrobes for the leads and ensemble, the costume crew has been working tirelessly since shortly after auditions.
Student costume designer junior Charlie Eisenarcher-Knott, who up until this point has strictly been a performer, chose to try a different avenue in the production process.
“It’s really fun, but it’s also terrifying because there are so many people and there are so many costume changes and not a lot of time to do them. Since it’s such a dance-heavy show, we would find some really pretty 1920s accurate dress with a drop waist and it could be beaded and amazing but if you can’t dance in it, we can’t use it.”
Even the head of marketing, senior Kayla Monson, went the extra mile. Monson hosted a photoshoot March 29 with the lead characters including Roxie (Sydney Parker), Velma (Mollie Holbrook), Billy Flynn (Alex Thompson), Amos Hart (Cole Frausto) and Mama Morton (Finley Danson).
“Our idea was to do a photoshoot in a 1920s kind of style so that we could incorporate the speakeasy feel that [director Michael] Despars really wants,” Monson said. “We wanted our advertisements to fit in that same style as if their show was an actual speakeasy show that people are coming to watch instead of just a high school performance.”
Chicago closes this weekend with shows on April 19 and 20 at 7 p.m. Tickets are still available at fuhs.booktix.com. Students can get tickets for $12 online or $15 at the door.
