by Hannah Fineman, SSLI '25
Yesterday was opening night for the Drama Club’s production of Chicago. The cast members performed at the Long Island Children's Museum, and all of their months of hard work paid off.
English teacher and director of the musical Ms.Weston described the show: “Chicago is a dark satire. It takes place in Chicago in the early 1930s. It is a story about a chorine, almost like a cabaret-girl dancer, who is looking for fame and fortune, and she gets into an illicit affair with a man and decides to shoot him…. It's basically a mockery of the American dream.”
Senior Samson Mildron, who plays Billy Flynn in the show, said “Chicago is confusing…but it's…fun. I think it's more about the songs than about the plot.”
One of the most important parts of the musical is the choreography. “The dances, it's just something that we've never done before,” Mildron shared. He continued, “I remember last year we took a long time just to do like a couple of dance moves, and now we have to do songs upon songs of all these…difficult dance moves.” Mildron further explained that “a lot of the dances that we did…we didn't choreograph them, and they were the original Broadway choreography.”
Senior Yael Pedram, a member of the audience, said, “My favorite part of the musical was the song ‘They Both Reached for the Gun.’ Carly and Samson did a great job at synchronizing their words, and it was very entertaining.” This scene was noted by Mildron as one that took extra practice to perfect.
Behind the scenes, the stage crew was busy. Senior Elinor Schlissel, who is in charge of the lighting for the show, shared how she “really enjoy[ed] the actual show day and seeing all the hard work pay off and seeing [how] all those hours that we've spent…practicing has really come together and see that…perfect culmination of our work.” Weston added that the stage crew were “unbelievably detail-oriented and organized and diligent and just phenomenal…behind the scenes.”
One moment in the play that Schlissel was especially proud of was when a character in the show “gets hanged, and there's a lot of tricky lighting cues for that, and it's always very stressful, and it has gotten messed up sometimes, but it went really well this time.”
Due to the hard work and devotion of the cast and crew, Pedram hopes that the community comes out to support the production. “Supporting my friends is very important to me because it's very uplifting to see people want to see your hard work," Pedram said. "I know how much work my friends have been putting into the play and the countless rehearsals and endless hours they've committed to. Every year, I'm so excited to see the play, [and] this year was no different. It was really great, and I'm so proud of everyone.”
The love of the community is felt by the actors. Mildron said, “I just want to thank everyone for coming to the show. It’s really awesome for everyone to come and support us, so thank you so much.”
Weston summarized the entirety of the Chicago performance perfectly: “I mean, they left it all out on the stage. They exceeded my expectations.”
There will be another performance on Sunday. It's not too late to get tickets!
Enjoy some photos from the show:
Hannah Fineman is a writer for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since November 2021. Hannah is currently a senior at the Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: hfineman25@schechterli.org
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