Our whole-school show, ‘Chicago’, won widespread acclaim form three packed nights and a busy matinee as the satire on corruption in the criminal justice system and the concept of ‘celebrity criminal’ were given the full Friary treatment.
The excellent cast showed off their full repertoire of singing and acting with lead roles including Grace McCue as Roxie Hart, Beth Housley as Velma Kelly and Seb Nash as Billy Flynn, but with an overall cast list and backstage crew running well into triple figures there were plenty of stars deserving of high praise.
The whole show was pulled together by student leaders in all areas including Ashley Simpson, Ben Jones and Will Stansbie as sound engineers, Grace Williams who pulled together a lot of the dance routines, and the fast-moving stage crew of Trinity Laurence, Alfie Jones, Dylan Wynne and Eleanor Easton.
Elsewhere, students and staff made up the orchestra pit and our PTFA oversaw the stage photo purchases and show bars to raise vital funds for the school.
Richard Hughes, Head of Drama, said: “The whole cast and crew did an amazing job and after holding our breath for weeks due to the threat of COVID closure there was a huge sigh of relief when the curtains drew back on opening night. We will be saying goodbye to several stalwart performers who led the cast in this, their last opportunity, but we also saw future leads coming through and this only made the show more emotive than ever.”
Matt Allman, Headteacher, added: “There has been a great deal of pressure to call off school events like ‘Chicago’, but sometimes the brave decision is to carry on and say we’re going to do this. For too many students this was their first ever show – and they should be approaching veterans at this stage – so for us it was very much a case of the show must go on. We kept it safe and the packed audiences proved the appetite was there for the performances. It was a fantastic show and we are already looking forward to the Lower School Show in the Summer.”
If you would like to review the whole cast list then please click on the following link here.
