Founders’ Hall Drama Club to bring the roaring ’20s back to life with ‘Chicago: Teen Edition’

The students will stage this age-appropriate version tonight, Friday and Saturday at Francis McClure auditorium in White Oak.

The Founders’ Hall Middle School Drama Club will be bringing “Chicago Teen Edition” to the stage this week, showcasing the iconic Broadway musical for McKeesport Area residents.

During a Monday rehearsal, the middle school students were hard at work preparing for their opening night on Thursday. Director Ed Moore said that they started preparing for the show in January.

“All schools have their high school program, but these kids perform on a level better than some high schools do,” Moore said. “We work on it just as long, and I am so proud of that, to be able to represent not only our school district but our combined communities.”

Playing lead roles, from left, are: Taytum Jones as Matron “Mama” Morton; Summer Ura as Velma Kelly; Lucas Alexa as Billy Flynn and Skylar Crenshaw as Roxie Hart.

The musical debuts 7 p.m. today with two other showings at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Francis McClure auditorium in White Oak. Tickets for adults are $12, $10 for seniors and $7 for students.

Tickets can be purchased online at https://fhdramaclub. ludus.com/index.php. Tickets will also be available at the door.

“Chicago Teen Edition” is a condensed version of the Broadway musical “Chicago.” This adaptation is tailored to be more appropriate for younger audiences and performers.

The musical takes place during the “Roaring Twenties” in Chicago, following Roxie Hart, who murders a secret lover and convinces her husband, Amos, to take the blame, until he finds out he’s been deceived and turns on Roxie. Roxie eventually ends up in prison, where the storyline continues with other characters like Velma.

Moore said that this version of “Chicago” already removes a lot of the explicit language found in the original musical, but he added that he also took out other words he thought to be inappropriate.

“This is the longest show we’ve done, and it’s been the most challenging,” Moore said. “But I like giving the kids opportunities. That’s always been my intention to give them opportunities to do things in middle school.

“The pieces have been truncated a little bit. In some of them, the range has been shrunk to fit younger voices, and the show is shorter.”

This is the last musical for Moore as director; he will be retiring at the end of the school year. Saying goodbye to being a director is a little hard for Moore, but he said it was time for him to leave.

“It’s bittersweet. I would continue on doing this for years, but the kids have changed a lot since COVID,” he said.

Some of the main stars of the show include Summer Ura as Velma, Taytum Jones as Mama, Lucas Alexa as Billy Flynn, and Skylar Crenshaw as Roxie. For all of them, except Alexa, this will be their last year in middle school.

Ura told the Mon Valley Independent that she’s done over a dozen different shows and that she does performances at the McKeesport Little Theater.

“I’ve done almost 15, 16 shows, and it’s just fun trying to get to play a character that you wouldn’t play in everyday life,” Ura said. “Especially with this show, it’s just so much more out of what we would do in our age, it’s just fun getting to play and experience new things, try new things.”

For Crenshaw, getting to know a character is also something she enjoys doing when acting.

“I like embodying the role, and just trying to stick with it and see what I can do and what I can’t do,” Crenshaw said. “And then, probably my favorite part is just being able to be with all my friends almost every day.”

Alexa reiterated Crenshaw’s message about getting to spend time with friends.

“I think the most fun part is seeing your friends,” Alexa said. “You might not be able to get to see them all the time, so it’s fun to see them now. And I think it’s fun to play something you wouldn’t really do.”

Jones said her character is something she’s enjoyed portraying.

“Mama is someone who is in the jail, and I feel like everyone likes her,” Jones said. “As everyone in the jail likes her, she’s just making money.”

McKeesport Area School District