Musical brings celebrity murder trials with singing and dancing
OCEAN CITY — Cheating wives, celebrity murderesses and a conman lawyer take the stage this week in the Hughes Performing Arts Center at Ocean City High School.
The comedy “Chicago: Teen Edition” is a popular musical featuring extensive choreography, amazing songs and a captivating storyline.
According to notes from Robert LeMaire, his final musical as director is based on the play “Chicago,” written by Maurine Dallas Watkins and published in 1926. Watkins, a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, covered the murders and subsequent trials of Belva Gaertner, a twice-divorced cabaret singer, and Beulah Sheriff Annan.
Watkins focused on the farcical, cynical and sensational aspects of the two cases: the press and public interest and the legal proceedings. She highlighted two attractive “jazz babies” claiming to have been corrupted by men and liquor.
She characterized Annan as the “beauty of the cell block,” the basis for Velma, and Gaertner as the “most stylish of Murderess Row,” the basis for Roxie.
After months of press coverage in Chicago’s seven daily newspapers, Gaertner and Annan were found not guilty in separate trials, although Watkins believed they were guilty.
“The play and musical focus on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the ‘celebrity criminal,’” LeMaire said. “Essentially, if you’re popular, you can manipulate the media and influence the legal system, potentially getting away with anything, including murder.”
LeMaire said the Drama Guild was two weeks from curtain call for “Chicago” in 2020 when the play was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have a lot of costumes and stuff that has been here for about five years,” he said.
Students did get a chance to perform the play outside in Sea Isle City, but a thunderstorm cut the performance short.
Costume designer Ellen Byrne said many of the pieces had to be altered to fit the bodies of this year’s players but that at least they were already in the building.
“Some of the things that we did for the last show were too sexy; these are more conservative times,” Byrne said.
Senior Siena Eden, president of the Ocean City High School Drama Guild, plays the leading role, Roxie Hart, who murders who lover when he threatens to leave her, setting up the murder trial. She was fantastic as the Queen of Hearts in last fall’s “Alice in Wonderland.”
“It’s a big show about putting on a show. These girls all put on shows to get out of jail,” Eden said. “Make the people love you and you’ll be proved not guilty. It’s like the court is a stage.”
She said Roxie becomes so obsessed with celebrity that after the trial, in which she is found not guilty, instead of being grateful she is upset that all of the reporters have left and she is again a nobody.
“The courtroom scene is just so much fun. It starts with a song from Billy that turns the whole court into a circus,” Eden said.
Noah Baker, who portrayed the March Hare in last fall’s “Alice in Wonderland,” plays shyster lawyer Billy Flynn, who stages a show with his clients in front of the judge and jury.
The junior choice student from Egg Harbor Township said this is his first lead role.
“I like how morally gray my character is. So many people, whether you love him or hate him, are convinced by him,” Baker said, noting he gets to sing and dance a lot.
“I like doing it. I think it’s up to the audience whether or not I’m good,” Baker said. “It’s really great to come from school and be with all of these great people who share the same passion.”
The cast features 33 students, including the ensemble, as well as numerous tech and stage crew members.
Taylor Mulford of Upper Township is lead supporting actress Velma Kelly, who killed her sister and her husband.
“I really love doing the Drama Guild — the stage has always been my home. I really do enjoy performing,” Mulford said.
She is a mainstay in local scholarship pageants and won Miss Ocean City 2025 last summer. She will spend the year representing the city in a multitude of events, from the First Day at the Beach to pie-eating contests and parades.
“I really just like the play ‘Chicago,’ and I really do like Velma. I’m not really known for dancing — I’m not a very good dancer — but I really wanted to get a dancing role to try to get better at dancing, because to be an actor you have to have acting, singing and dancing,” Mulford said, noting “singing is my thing.”
The junior said she really likes the character.
“She has a lot of moments with comedic relief. She’s a very dynamic character. She is very narcissistic and confident. At some points she is very deceptive and very funny at other points, so it’s just a nice blend,” Mulford said.
Freshman Sydney Chin, a 14-year-old from Ocean City, did more than just research her character Hunyak, actually learning to speak her lines in Hungarian.
“I like that it was a challenge. I had to go home and listen to this recording on YouTube and yelled back at the screen until I figured it out,” Chin said.
Her character, the only one on Murderesses Row who is innocent also is the only one who was found guilty and executed.
“I love all of the people,” Chin said, noting she was Regina in “Mean Girls” last year at Ocean City Intermediate School.
Junior Christian Hornig-Fineran has a brief role as doomed lover Fred Casely but makes a return during a flashback in a later scene.
“Because of what happens to me in the beginning of the story, the entire plot unfolds. It’s just a lot of fun and I get to die,” Hornig-Fineran said.
He and Baker put on quite a show during their tea party scene in “Alice,” and he was upset a bit that he didn’t get to play such an animated role as the Mad Hatter. However, he put everything into dying.
“While I don’t make too many appearances, the appearances that I do make I have the ability to spice them up and make them really great,” he said, noting “the dying is fun, I really sell that pretty well.”
LeMaire has a long history with the district, accepting an information technology position in 2001.
He had shared the stage a few times with Patrick Mulvaney, who was the theater teacher at Ocean City until the school board dissolved the program.
That connection led to Leah Getz, who had directed several shows for OCHS, frequently approaching him about being an assistant director. He finally agreed in 2010 and became assistant director of “Robin Hood” and then the spring musical “Legally Blonde” in 2012.
Getz left the district in fall 2012 and LeMaire took over as director, choosing “Footloose” as his first musical.
Two shows later in the 2013-2014 school year, he stepped away from the Drama Guild but was “coerced” into the assistant director spot for “The Man Who Came to Dinner” and “Bye-Bye Birdy” in 2016-17.
He returned to the director’s seat in fall 2017.
“Once back, it wasn’t easy to leave again, and it isn’t easy to leave now, but after 25 years in the educational world, I am stepping out and retiring from this school. This is my final bow,” LeMaire said.
“It’s been great working with the students; it’s nice that several have gone on and found career paths in performing arts or doing tech stuff, so it’s really nice. Nice to hear positive things,” LeMaire said. “It’s been a great ride and I worked with probably over 300 students and it was a great honor to work with every one.”
The show has a cast of 33 on stage plus tech crew and stage crew.
Performances are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 4, and 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 5. Visit onthestage.us9.list-manage.com/track/click for tickets.
‘Chicago’ Cast
Roxie Hart: Sienna Eden
Billy Flynn: Noah Baker
Velma Kelly: Taylor Mulford
Fred Casely: Christian Hornig-Finneran
Amos Hart: Nathan Lera
Fogarty: Adam Wertzberger
Liz: Reina Xu
Annie: Elizabeth Louis
June: Ingrid Pohlig
Hunyak: Sydney Chin
Mona: Scarlett-Rose Romano
Matron “Mama” Morton: Lyla Ginzberg
Mary Sunshine: Bradin Roberts
Reporter: Avery Silva
Kitty: Lily Pettit
Harry: Andrew Pelaez
Third Reporter: Sydney Burwell
Judge: Noley Schenck
Harrison: Brodie Madison
Clerk: Tegan Goodwin
Juror One: Sean Wilde
Ensemble: Kushbu Pandya, Julia Colangelo, Ike Thompson, Phoenix Wilde, Hanna Dolinsky, Hannah Oliver, Michaela Voegtlin, Sam Lowe, Emma Saul, Rhyan Wilkin, Sarah Smith and Olivia Morgan.
– STORY by CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
