I know a whoopee spot where the gin is cold and the piano’s hot … and all that jazz. It’s Lehigh Senior High Center for the Arts Auditorium, where they’re performing “Chicago Teen Edition.”
It’s a paint-the-town jazz extravaganza perfectly suited to Artistic Director Miguel Cintron’s triple-threat theater students.
“I choose each show based on the kids that I have, and we have powerhouse female performers,” said Cintron.
But Cintron had an ulterior motive.
“Also, I chose Chicago,’ honestly, because I know that it's kind of like a gift to my choreographer, my little sis, Lauren Gomez,” Cintron added. “She's the choreographer here, and she's always wanted to do it. And so that was just my little gift to her.”
It also turned out to be a gift for senior Samantha Jean-Marie.
“There's a competition, it's called SWIFTS — it's Southwest Florida Theatrical Society — and one of the things that you could enter is a scenic design,” noted Jean-Marie. “And I chose ‘Chicago’ because I knew I was going to be stage managing it, so I was like, I'd kill two birds with one stone.”
Cintron told her he envisioned a jazzy, 1920s speakeasy vibe, so to razzle dazzle him, and her SWIFTS adjudicators, she went all out.
“I researched specifically like the architect[ure] in Chicago in the 1920s, like the Chicagoan brick, the type of the fire escapes, the type of steel that they used,” Jean-Marie said.
She didn’t use steel. But she did use lots and lots of lumber. That’s because she and Cintron put the show’s 14-piece orchestra on a second story overlooking the stage.
“’Chicago is very dance heavy, right?” she said. “So, [to] utilize the stage wisely, all the blocking, I wanted to make sure that they were elevated. It gives the actors more space and room and opportunity to express themselves without having to look away for the other band members.”
Jean-Marie didn’t just tell Cintron what she had in mind. She handed him a sketch, a scale model and a blueprint to guide the set builders.
“It was a bit tricky because I had to kind of like make sure that the band … on the upper level … they're safe, they're secure, but … also still keeping in mind that I wanted to go for a jazz, cabaret, Chicagoan look,” Jean-Marie said.
“It's all student-built,” Cintron said. “It's part of the learning process. Yes, I teach them how to use all the tools. They paint everything. We do it all together.”
And it’s the set that uniquely enables Cintron’s cast to show off their acting, dancing and vocal skills in such sizzling Fosse-inspired numbers as “Cell Block Tango” featuring Taylor Spurr in the role of Velma Kelly.
“She's a senior,” Cintron said. “She actually won best actress in a musical last year, and she's extremely talented. She's going on to study musical theater.”
Also taking full advantage of Jean-Marie’s set design is Adela Rodriguez in the role of Roxie Hart.
“She's a junior,” Cintron said. “She's a dancer and actor, a vocalist, very talented … This is her first lead, a real big lead this year.”
Then there’s the big bamboozaler, the ringmaster himself, Billy Flynn.
“Also a senior,” Cintron said. “He was runner-up last year for Best Actor … This year he's playing Billy Flynn. His name's Victor Galarza.”
This splendiferous production of “Chicago” has lots of flash and razzle dazzle.
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Plot, characters and theme
Chicago holds the distinction of being the longest running American musical in Broadway history. It features a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb.
The Lightning Theatre Company/Lehigh Senior High School of the Arts’ production features show-stopping songs, spectacular choreography, skimpy costumes and Samantha Jean-Marie’s splendiferous set. With songs and libretto that are still timely, groundbreaking choreography that pays homage to the great Bob Fosse, and a couple of powerful female leads who can both sing and dance, this musical has it all.
The musical is based on true, headline-grabbing murders and their corresponding trials that took place in Chicago in the 1920s. One murderous thread follows an aspiring vaudevillian by the name of Roxie Hart (Adela Rodriguez Gonzalez) who is arrested for murdering her extramarital lover. The other focuses on Velma Kelly (Taylor Spurr), a nightclub entertainer and double-murderess whom Roxie meets in jail. Unaccustomed to sharing the spotlight with anyone, Velma does not take well to being upstaged by the spoiled, self-absorbed newcomer. Simmering emotion boils over when the feisty vixens fight for the spotlight after hiring the same cold-blooded criminal defense attorney, Billy Flynn (Victor Galarza). To win the girls’ freedom, Flynn foments a media frenzy. In the process, these femme fatales are catapulted to showbiz stardom with each vying for top billing.
With themes involving narcissism, loyalty, betrayal, a broken criminal justice system and manipulating the press, “Chicago” may be even more relevant today than it was when it was written in 1975. Songs like “All That Jazz,” “Cell Block Tango” and “Razzle Dazzle” reflect the current political gestalt with startling accuracy, while the rest of the show’s standards resonate across the board with Millennials to Boomers.
Not to be overlooked are the gender equality issues implicit in the play.
Roxie, Velma and the women in “Cell Block Tango” want to be empowered. They want to be acknowledged as equals with their male counterparts, to be seen as possessing worth and importance sui juris and independent of their fathers, husbands and the other men in their lives. Cut to Roxie, who sings, “From just some dumb mechanic’s wife, I’m gonna be Roxie.”
But it is the dancing that ties everything together with the panache of a flamboyant red velvet Christmas bow. It doesn’t just amplify the story’s sexy, sordid appeal. It adds an exclamation point to the public’s love affair with sensationalized characters who thumb their noses at social expectation, mores and the rule of law.
Taylor Spurr is Velma Kelly
Taylor Spurr takes on the role of Velma Kelly, the vampy assassin who is looking to capitalize on her fame to reclaim her star status. Spurr plays the role in the tradition of Bebe Neuwirth and Catherine Zeta-Jones, employing a blend of stylized jazz movements, precision gestures and theatrical flair.
Spurr is unfazed by the inevitable comparisons to Neuwirth, Zeta-Jones, Chita Rivera, who originated the role, and locally to Amy Marie McCleary, who portrayed Velma Kelly in Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre’s 2018 production of the musical.
“[The role] is iconic for a reason,” she shrugged. “It’s fun. Very fun. I wouldn’t even say that it’s all that stressful. It’s really fun — and it’s nice that I don’t have to be on [stage] the whole show.”
Last year, Spurr won the award for Outstanding Performance in a Female-Identifying Role for her portrayal of Eurydice in Lehigh Senior High School’s production of “Hadestown Teen Edition.” Based on that performance and her acquittal of her current role, she is destined for a bright future in musical theater. To further her career objectives, she will be pursuing a four-year degree in musical theater and is currently in the application/audition process.
Adela Rodriguez Gonzalez is Roxie Hart
For Adela Rodriguez Gonzalez, Roxie Hart is a dream come true.
“Honestly, this has been one of my dream roles for a really long time, so it really is such an honor,” she said following rehearsal. “It's just so exciting to get to take over such an iconic role that everybody really knows.”
Rodriguez Gonzalez’s character is caught in a love triangle. Not the classic love triangle, but one in which she, Velma and their attorney, Billy Flynn, are all in love with the same thing.
“We love fame. Fame and money and power,” Rodriguez Gonzalez proclaimed. Roxie, in particular, will do whatever it takes to see her name in lights.
The name on everybody's lips is gonna be Roxie
The lady rakin' in the chips is gonna be Roxie
I'm gonna be a celebrity, that means somebody everyone knows
They're gonna recognize my eyes, my hair, my teeth, my boobs, my nose
Rodriguez Gonzalez comes from a competitive dance background. In “Chicago,” she displays all the right moves. The junior plans to continue acting, singing and dancing next year and then moving on to pursue a BFA in musical theater with a minor in teaching and early education at the collegiate level.
“And what better way to share my love and my knowledge for this art than to pass it on to the next generation?”
Victor Galarza is Billy Flynn
Billy Flynn is an unapologetic narcissist. He says several times that he does it all for love, but what he loves is the spotlight, the fame, the power, the prestige.
Galarza is Flynn’s polar opposite. When asked to name his favorite number in the show, he didn’t pick one of his own. Instead in named “When Velma Takes the Stand” featuring Taylor Spurr.
“I'm usually sitting in the corner watching her,” he said. “Taylor is just very good at acting and dancing and all the other things that she does, so I’m watching all the cool things that she's doing. She has truly made it like she's Velma, you know. That's what I really admire about Taylor as well. I wish to be like that.”
As Flynn, Galarza hits all the right notes. In fact, in “We Both Reached for the Gun” he carries a G4 note for 40, 50 seconds.
"That one, that one is always a very scary one for me because I have to make sure I have my breath, that I take a huge breath of air to hold it as long as possible,” Galarza said. “I kind of make it like a challenge to see how long I can hold it each time. Sometimes it’s longer. Sometimes it gets a little shorter. But I always want to make sure that I have that breath support. As long as I have that breath support, it doesn't really matter how long I hold that.”
Of course, the character is inevitably associated with “Razzle Dazzle.”
Give 'em the old double whammy, daze and dizzy 'em
Back since the days of old Methuselah
Everyone loves the big bamboozler
Give 'em the old three-ring circus, stun and stagger 'em
When you're in trouble, go into your dance
Though you are stiffer than a girder
They'll let you get away with murder
Razzle dazzle 'em and you've got a romance
“That one is a is a super fun number for me because I'm essentially a ringmaster in a circus,” said Galarza. “It's a very repetitive song if you listen to it, but you can make it so entertainable by changing the way you say things. The way you say something can change exactly how it comes out, plus facial expressions and what we're doing all around is amazing.”
He’s referring to dances in long gowns and tumblers doing flips, splits and cartwheels across the stage. The number requires good communication between Galarza and the dancers and split-second timing for some of their passes.
Galarza says having a live band helps immensely with this and the show’s other musical numbers.
“I love having the band there. It's so good because we can hear it right behind us,” he said. “It’s so much easier than it would be if we were singing to tracks and monitors. And the orchestra is doing such a great job. I know them personally because I've been in band myself. But it's so cool to see how much everyone has grown and how well they can do this.”
He’s equally impressed with the level of chemistry the entire cast and crew have developed over the course of their rehearsal process.
“It's like we're a whole big family and that's what's so great here at Lehigh Senior. We're all one big family. We love each other. We care for each other. We're making sure that we have each other's backs and I really truly love that.”
Galarza is headed to Florida Gulf Coast University in the fall.
“My plans are to go for a vocal performance degree at FGCU and in some way, I want to keep doing acting and keep singing,” he said. “I want to I want to keep doing this because of my love for acting and performing.”
More on Miguel Cintron
Cintron has been theater director at Lehigh Senior High School of the Arts since 2018. The program includes theater, vocals, dance, band and orchestra.
“It's a rigorous program,” Cintron said. “I teach theater all day, different types of theater, Acting 1 through 4. I teach stagecraft. I teach technical theater. I teach musical theater alongside Miss Fullerton, who is our vocal director as well. So, it's very rigorous, and we do five to six shows a year, a a play and at least three musicals, one being a children's show, which was ‘Beetlejuice’ this year.”
Lehigh Senior does a main stage musical in the fall and another mainstage musical in the spring. That’s typically the show they enter in the High School Musical Theatre Awards competition.
At last year’s High School Musical Theatre Awards, Lehigh’s production of “Hadestown Teen Edition” was named Best Overall Production of a Musical and took top honors for Technical Achievement, Vocal Execution, Outstanding Ensemble and Orchestra, and was runner-up for Choreography. Lehigh also took three of the four best actor awards.
Lehigh performed “Hadestown” to a recorded soundtrack. This year, the school’s new band director, Dr. John Leonard, surprised Cintron by telling him they’d be able to perform live for “Chicago.”
“I thought we were going to have to use a recording of the show,” said Cintron. “I didn't want to put that on a new person and I also didn't know that we had the students to play in the orchestra. Thankfully, he was all for it. He's done Chicago before and so he was excited about teaching the kids the show. He's been rehearsing with the orchestra since February.”
A live orchestra makes a huge difference.
“There's just so much more energy when there's an orchestra on stage,” Cintron related.
“There's just a different feeling, a different sound. [The cast] can still do a great job with the recording. We had to perform our Renaissance show with tracks. The energy was just so different. It was completely different. It was still good, but nothing like having the band on stage. When the band is up there playing, that sound, the vibration of the stage, it's so much better.”
Miguel Cintron is an accomplished actor and musician in his own right. He’s starred in such shows as “Gutenberg,” “An Act of God,” in which he plays the Almighty, and “The Gun Show,” which is a one-man two-hour tour de force. Other credits include Robert and Thomas In “The Play That Goes Wrong,” Usman in “The Chechens” for the Alliance for the Arts, Palomo in “Anna in the Tropics,” Yvan in Yasmina Reza’s “Art,” as well as roles in “Women in Jeopardy,” “My First Time,” “Domestic Tranquility,” “Shipwrecked,” “Tower of Magic,” “Shakespeare Abridged,” “The Bible Abridged” and “Art of Murder,” all for Theatre Conspiracy at the Alliance.
Cintron has also performed at The Herb Strauss Theatre, The Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre and the Florida Repertory Theatre. Some of his favorite shows are “Into the Woods,” “Spamalot,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” “Lucky Stiff,” “Run for your Wife,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Aladdin,” “Buddy” and “The Fantastiks.”
He has also worked as a standup comedian in Florida and New York.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
