Chester loves ‘Chicago’ and ‘Chicago’ loves Chester

The three performances of Green Mountain Union High School’s production of  Bob Fosse’s Chicago took Chester by storm last Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Below is a photo gallery taken at two performances. We also have video of three numbers: Roxie; All I Care About; and When Velma Takes the Stand.

Set in the 1920s and loosely based on true stories, Chicago is a satire on celebrity and the justice system.  Singer Velma Kelly (Katie McNally) and aspiring performer Roxie Hart (Rosie McNamara), await their trials for murder while scheming to get the greatest publicity value out of them.  Fritz Wendlandt directed the large cast and orchestra, which was supplemented by musical parents John Yake and Thom Huntington, in the Kander and Ebb score. Vocal direction was by Cindi Austin and choreography was adapted from Fosse’s original by Ashley Hensel-Browning.

Costuming was designed by parents Diane McNamara, Jill McNally and Paulette Martel with hair design by Salon 2000’s Sara Yake, Hannah Monier and Christy Patterson.

Katie McNally, center, stars as Velma Kelly in Green Mountain Union High’s production of the musical “Chicago.”

The opening number is “All That Jazz.”

Rosie McNamara, starring as Roxie Hart, sings “Funny Honey,” a song of great affection that takes a sour detour when her husband Amos gives her up to police.

As jail house Matron Mama, Ann-Marie Toussaint wowed the crowd with her throaty “When You’re Good to Mama.”

Ian Martel, center, disrobes as lawyer Billy Flynn for the evocative “All I Care About.” He is surrounded by, from left, dancers Maddie Thomas, Anna Huckins, Aili Reitmeyer-Lankone, Camille Burles, Margie DesLauriers and Leah Cunningham.

Daina Ricketts takes a hilarious turn as reporter Mary Sunshine, who sees “A Little Bit of Good” in everyone.

Martel as Flynn accepts a new client in the murderous Go-to-Hell Kitty, played by Hanley Murray with a kick.

The lights go down on Act One.

McNamara’s Roxie Hart, center, celebrates her “pregnancy” with “Me and My Baby” danced with DesLauriers and Cunningham.

Morgan Douglas belts out an emotional “Mr. Cellophane” as Amos Hart, Roxie’s all but invisible husband.

The cast Razzle Dazzles in the courtroom scene. Far left, Shiloh Yake in just a few words garnered laughs as the court clerk.

McNamara, right, as Roxie, and McNally, as Velma, wow the house in the finale.