Programme 1985 – Chicago

NAPIER OPERATIC SOCIETY PRESENTS

CHICAGO

A MUSICAL VAUDEVILLE

SEPTEMBER 1985

NZFOS

NAPIER OPERATIC SOCIETY INC.
(Member of the New Zealand Federation of Operatic Societies)

PATRON:
R. Wright

PRESIDENT:
F. Twyford

VICE-PRESIDENT:
D. Hurley

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT:
W. Beckett

CHAIRMAN:
P. Shepherd

EXECUTIVE:
R. Van de Ven, R. Johnson, A. Jones, E. Thorpe, S. Page, V. Crabtree, J. Briggs, L. Speakman, B. Brunsdon, L Graney

SECRETARY:
I. Raid

TREASURER:
L. Browne

HON. AUDITOR:
L. Robertson

HON. SOLICITOR:
J. Matthews

SECRETARIAT:   P.O. Box 756, Napier

BANKERS:   Bank of New Zealand

INSURERS:   General Accident Ltd.

LIFE MEMBERS:
H. Collier, R. Wright, D. Unsworth, R. Houston, A. Jones, J. Collier

PRESIDENT’S NOTE

When Napier Operatic Society engaged Gillian Davies earlier this year as fulltime Artistic Director, it was a bold step forward that will benefit not only the Society for a long time to come, but theatre in general in Napier.

The quality of the performance you see tonight is a fine example of the polish she applies to all her work, and the result of the hours of dedicated work by the cast and Society helpers – she has inspired us all to greater heights.

I hope you will enjoy this performance as much as we have in bringing it to you.

F.C. TWYFORD
President

CHICAGO

A MUSICAL VAUDEVILLE

BOOK BY:
Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse

MUSIC BY:
John Kander

LYRICS BY:
Fred Ebb

Based on the play “Chicago” by Maurine Dallas Watkins

Presented by the Napier Operatic Society by arrangement with
Play Bureau N.Z.

DIRECTED BY:
Gillian Davies

MUSICAL DIRECTOR:
Eric Thorpe

CHOREOGRAPHY:
Shirley Jarrett

LIGHTING DESIGN:
Gwyn Ace

SOUND BY:
Robert Lockyer

Extra costumes designed and made by
Sue Page

Performed at the
NAPIER MUNICIPAL THEATRE
SEPTEMBER 5th-14th 1985

EXPLOITATION   ADULTERY   TREACHERY   DECEPTION

GILLIAN DAVIES
Director

The world premiere of Chicago, at the 46th Street Theatre New York, in June 1975, marked the end of a 20-year struggle to bring Maurine Dallas Watkins’ 1926 play to the musical stage. From 1951 until her death in 1969, Ms Watkins had lived as a recluse in Florida, and all approaches for performance rights had met with her ‘customary regrets’.

Her career as a journalist for the “Chicago Tribune” had brought her into daily contact with the sort of characters we see in Chicago. The central figures of Roxy Hart, Valma Kelly, Billy Flynn and Amos Hart are all taken from real-life case studies while the storyline of the play is a mixture of two genuine murder trials reported by Maurine Watkins in 1922. Then, as now, lurid details of lust and blood-letting were very popular with the public, and if a criminal could combine a particularly gruesome killing with a stylish public image, it was possible to become a celebrity overnight, with consequent pressure on the due processes of law to bring down a lenient verdict. The injustice of this was not lost on the young and, by all accounts, attractive Ms Watkins, and the black-bordered cutting edge which distinguishes Chicago from other musicals of the 70’s, owes much to her critical inside view of the mass-circulation newspaper and its power.

Shortly after she had joined the staff of the Tribune as a junior reporter, she was assigned to a series of seven trials, all involving women accused of murdering their husbands, or lovers. The case of 28-year-old Mrs Beaulah Annan, a tall, slim, attractive housewife, gave her the model for Roxie Hart. “Chicago’s prettiest prisoner” was accused of murdering her 29-year-old lover, Harry Kolstadt, after one of their regular daytime meetings at the Annan apartment. Harry had made the mistake of telling her their affair was finished, and Beaulah had replied with two pistol shots into his back. For the next two hours she tried to ignore the half-dressed corpse slumped against the wall, playing over and over on her victrola “Hula Lou”, a popular Hawaiian melody of the time. Eventually, she telephoned her husband, Albert, who worked in a garage, and reported that she had shot an intruder who had tried to rape her, a story she maintained until police detectives made her act out her story, in the apartment under cross-questioning. She then broke down and confessed to a crime of passion: “My mind went into a whirl, and I shot him.” Albert, who had not suspected her infidelity, was heartbroken by the revelation, but vowed to stay by her side through the coming ordeal of trail by jury. It was three days after her arrest that Beaulah, already a celebrity in the popular press, posed for the cameras in her cell, alongside 38-year-old Belva Gaertner, another murderess also waiting trial for the shooting of her 29-yr-old lover. During a lengthy discourse on love, gin, guns, sweethearts, wives, and husbands, Mrs Gaertner declared that no man was worth killing, for love, “Because there are always plenty more”. Of juries, she said: “I want worldly men, broad-minded men who know what it is to get out a bit. No-one like that could convict me.” Here, Maurine Watkins found her material for Velma Kelly. As it turned out, both Mrs Gaertner and Mrs Annan were justifiably confident of being acquitted. They knew their Chicago. Beaulah, ‘poised, raphaelite in profile’, thanked her jury individually, ‘all young, good-looking, and not too hard-boiled’. She packed her expensive wardrobe and left for an unknown destination with her husband, whom she divorced two months later. Her supposed pregnancy, a major factor in her defence, disappeared as mysteriously as it had been conceived. She died in 1928, at the age of 32, in a sanatorium, under an assumed name.

By then, Maurine Watkins’ stage play had run 172 performances on Broadway, although it folded after only nine weeks in Chicago, an indication perhaps of how the playgoing public viewed this portrayal of their city as a haven for pretty murderesses.

In 1927, a silent movie version of Chicago was released, with Phyllis Haver playing the role of Roxie Hart. By all accounts this adhered closely to the stage play, and was hailed at the time as ‘a most entertaining piece of work’. More widely known is the film Roxie Hart made in 1942 by Twentieth Century Fox, starring Ginger Rogers and Adolphe Menjou. The film is not a musical, but Ginger Rogers seems poised on the edge of song and dance throughout and it’s easy to imagine how producers would see a full-blown Broadway show as the next logical development of this modest first play by an aspiring young writer, who gave up her promising career as a journalist to chase the less certain rewards of the theatre.

The story of Roxie Hart has come a long way since the New York Times reviewer wrote, of the stage play:”… a racous [raucous] lampoon”. The satire is still there, and will not be lost on New Zealanders. Chicago exposes the hypocrisy behind the cause celebrity… it shows us a world where the prison and the cabaret are one, where it’s possible to say: “A jury isn’t blind. Kitty Malan was hanged, but she was 43 and unrefined”.

And what would Maurine Watkins say of Chicago The Musical? Gwen Verdon, who played Roxie Hart on Broadway provides this insight: “She saw just where the country was headed – and that was right for disaster. Everyone had a price. If you didn’t get caught, it was all right. It comes down to the difference between real accomplishment, and plugging someone in the back and winding up playing the Palace.”

That’s Chicago.

We do hope you enjoy Chicago as much as we’ve enjoyed preparing it for you!

GILLIAN DAVIES

CHRISTINE HEWETT
Assistant to Director

MURDER   GREED   CORRUPTION   HYPOCRISY   VIOLENCE   EXPLOITATION

ERIC THORPE
Musical Director

SHIRLEY JARRETT
Choreographer

NEILL PAGE
Stage Director

GWYN ACE
Lighting Director

ADULTERY   TREACHERY   DECEPTION   MURDER   GREED   CORRUPTION

THE COMPANY

HYPOCRISY   VIOLENCE   EXPLOITATION   ADULTERY   TREACHERY   DECEPTION

CHICAGO

A MUSICAL VAUDEVILLE

JUNE LAWRENCE
as Roxie Hart

JULIE HALES
as Velma Kelly

BUDDY COLLINS
as Amos

GLYN LAWRENCE
as Billy Flynn

CHRISTINA McDONALD
as Matron Mama Morton

ROBYN-LEE HICKMAN
as Miss Mary Sunshine

JOHN HARDING
as the Master of Ceremonies

MURDER   GREED

CHICAGO

A MUSICAL VAUDEVILLE

CAST LIST
Roxie Hart   June Lawrence
Velma Kelly   Julie Hales
Billy Flynn   Glyn Lawrence
Matron Mama Morton   Christina McDonald
Mary Sunshine   Robyn-Lee Hickman
Amos   Buddy Collins
Master of Ceremonies   John Harding
Go-to-hell-Kitty   Sandy Ward
Annie    Sylvia Richardson
Liz   Connie Barfoot
Mona    Elizabeth Graney
June    Susan Wilton
Hunyak    Karen Shand
Harry   Gavin Etheridge
Aaron   Walter Rutgers
Fred Casely   Brian Cotter
Sergeant Fogarty   Tony Ironside
Policemen   Gavin Etheridge, Robin Johnson
Reporters, Showgirls, Prisoners, Dancers, Court Officials etc   The Company

COMPANY
Barry Digman, Walter Rutgers, Stephen Roberts, Robin Johnson, Pierre Van der Zwet, Brendon Wickman, Mark Baker, Alun James, Jack Ritchie, Joe Christensen, Tony Ironside, Gavin Etheridge.

Sheryl Smith, Emma Bradshaw, Liana Monteith, Sally Rutgers, Kate Dawson, Elissa Davies, Linda Carrad, Lynne Laurent, Penny Graham, Sandra Kersey, Julene Andrews, Rita James, Julie O’Malley, Mandy Woods, Jan Gray, Sandy Ward, Sylvia Richardson, Elizabeth Graney, Susan Wilton, Karen Shand, Connie Barfoot.

There will be an Intermission of 10 minutes.

ACT 1
Overture   Company
All That Jazz   Velma and Company
Funny Honey   Roxie
Cell Block Tango   Murderesses
When You’re Good to Mama   Matron Mama Morton
Tap Dance   Roxie, Amos and Boys
All I Care About   Billy and Company
A Little Bit of Good   Mary Sunshine
We Both Reached for the Gun   Billy, Roxie, Mary Sunshine and Company
Roxie   Roxie and the Boys
I Can’t Do It Alone   Velma
My Own Best Friend   Roxie, Velma and Company

ACT TWO
I Know a Girl   Velma
Me and My Baby   Roxie and Company
Mister Cellophane   Amos
When Velma Takes the Stand   Velma and the Boys
Razzle Dazzle   Billy and Company
Class   Velma and Matron Mama Morton
Nowadays   Velma, Roxie and Company

CORRUPTION   HYPOCRISY   VIOLENCE   EXPLOITATION   ADULTERY   TREACHERY   DECEPTION   MURDER   GREED   CORRUPTION   HYPOCRISY   VIOLENCE

CHICAGO

CHICAGO is sub-titled – ‘a musical vaudeville’ – and the manner in which the authors and lyricists have put the show together accurately follow the theatrical phenomenon of the genre.

VAUDEVILLE has had a long and varied history. Originally VAUDEVILLE meant a satirical song and later designated a play which contained songs set to well known tunes.

VAUDEVILLE became a light entertainment popular in the United States from the mid-1890’s until the early 1930’s that consisted of ten to fifteen individual, unrelated acts, featuring magicians, acrobats, comedians, trained animals, jugglers, singers and dancers. It is the counter part of the Music Hall and Variety in England.

Originating in France the term VAUDEVILLE is a corruption of ‘vaux-de-vire’. It passed into theatrical usage in the early 18th Century to describe plays in pantomime, interpreting the action with lyrics and choruses set to popular tunes. It eventually developed into a form of light musical drama, with spoken dialogue interspersed with songs, that was popular throughout Europe.

Tony Pastor, an American ballad and minstrel singer, is credited with giving the first performance of VAUDEVILLE in America, and the form became a way of life in the United States.

VAUDEVILLE was a training ground for many of the great comedians of the 20th Century – Jack Benny, Jimmy Durante, George Burns, Bert Lahr and many others.

The decline of VAUDEVILLE in the 1930’s is attributed to the rise of sound motion pictures which could furnish the same kind of entertainment at lower admission prices.

From time to time the stock phrase in the entertainment business was – ‘VAUDEVILLE’S DEAD!!’ Indeed during the great depression years in the 1930’s many established ‘vaudevillians’ found themselves painfully out of work after long and consistent public support for the great vaudeville halls, e.g. THE PALACE THEATRE in New York.

With sound movies, the development of the musical play to a more sophisticated level (the OKLAHOMA revolution) and television riding on the horizon, the slogan ‘Vaudeville’s Dead’ appeared to be correct. However from time to time and even in the last few years the VAUDEVILLE formula has been used by many star performers as a basis for live entertainment.

KANDER AND EBB have used the VAUDEVILLE formula to great effect in their stage show CHICAGO. In previous works such as ZORBA and CABARET one can feel a VAUDEVILLE influence. CHICAGO says it all.

TREACHERY  DECEPTION   MURDER

BILLY AND AMOS
in Billy’s office

MAMA MORTON AND VELMA
“Class”

THE REPORTERS – “We both reached for the gun”

MURDER   GREED   CORRUPTION   HYPOCRISY   VIOLENCE   EXPLOITATION

MACK & MABEL

NAPIER’S BIG PRODUCTION for 1986

BOOK BY
Michael Stewart

MUSIC & LYRICS BY
Jerry Herman

Based on an idea by Leonard Spigelglass

Napier Operatic Society Inc.
Est. 1887

Established in 1887 THE NAPIER OPERATIC SOCIETY will celebrate its 100 years of existence during 1987. It will be producing several exciting shows plus a reunion, Labour Weekend of that year, for past and present members. If you would like to enrol, please forward $5.00 to:

Centennial Committee
P.O. Box 3225, Napier

PREVIOUS PRODUCTIONS

1887 – The Sorcerer
1889 – The Mikado
Iolanthe
1890 – Rip Van Winkle
1891 – The Mikado
1891 – Iolanthe
1891 – Madame Favart
1893 – Rip Van Winkle
Les Cloches de Cornville
1908 – The Gondoliers
1909 – The Mikado
1910 – The Geisha
1911 – The Runaway Girl
1912 – A Greek Slave
1913 – Toreador
1914 – Miss Hook of Holland
1915 – Blue Moon
1921 – The Geisha
1923 – A Country Girl
1924 – Floradora
1928 – The Arcadians
1929 – The Sunshine Girl
1930 – Our Miss Gibbs
1938 – Rio Rita
1939 – The Belle of New York
1940 – Boots and All
1954 – Chu Chin Chow
1955 – The Desert Song
1956 – The New Moon
1957 – Oklahoma
1958 – Love From Judy
1959 – The Vagabond King
1961 – Kismet
1960 – White Horse Inn
1962 – The Music Man
1963 – Where’s Charley
1963 – The Merry Widow
1964 – The Maid of the Mountains
1965 – Annie Get Your Gun
1966 – Amahal and the Night Visitors
1967 – Little Mary Sunshine
1968 – The Sound of Music
1969 – Camelot
1970 – Pink Champagne
1971 – South Pacific
1972 – Oliver
1973 – Fiddler on the Roof
1974 – My Fair Lady
1975 – Man of La Manoha
1976 – Pirates of Penzance
Music Hall
1977 – Oops Titipu
Joseph and the Amazing Dreamcoat
Music Hall
1978 – Oh What a Lovely War
Music Hall
1979 – The Great Waltz
Grease
Music Hall
1980 – Jesus Christ Superstar
Music Hall
1981 – HMS Pinafore
Hans Christian Andersen
Music Hall
1982 – Cabaret
Oklahoma
Music Hall
1983 – Annie
Music Hall
1984 – Man of La Mancha
Patience (Song & Opera Workshop)
Music Hall
1985 – The Gingerbread Man
Bartered Bride (Song & Opera Workshop)

ROXIE AND THE BOYS
“Roxie”

VELMA AND ROXIE
“Nowadays”

MURDERESSES
“Cell Block Tango”

ADULTERY   TREACHERY   DECEPTION   MURDER   GREED   CORRUPTION

CHICAGO

A MUSICAL VAUDEVILLE

ORCHESTRA

TRUMPET:   Ian Mariner
TROMBONE:   Keith Robinson
2nd SAXOPHONE:   Alan Meakin
3rd SAXOPHONE:   Kevin Morris
BANJO:   James Baker
VIOLIN:   Norma Smith
TUBA:   Clifford Howell
PERCUSSION:   Warren Sang or Malcolm Thorpe
PIANO 1:    Karen Briggs
PIANO 2:    Eric Thorpe

GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Christine Field
H.B. Agencies Ltd
Dot Thorpe
Williams & Kettle Ltd
Raphaels Antiques
Heathers Floral Studio
Bay City Cameras
Museum of Technology H.B. Inc.
L. & A.C. Styles – Optometrists
Roy Mahon, Hamilton
1st Taradale Boys Brigade
Napier St. Johns Ambulance
Lyn Ballingall
Downstage, Wellington
James White & Associates Ltd
Conroy Removals
McMillin Craig Ltd – Printers
Outram St. Neighbours
Lions of Hawke’s Bay
Air New Zealand
Big Al’s
Radio N.Z. Technicians
Napier Frivolity Minstrels
Process Signs

CHICAGO PRODUCTION PERSONNEL

BACK ROW, L to R: Robin Johnson, Denyse Watkins, Trish Green, John Collier, Jim McFadyen, Sue Page.

FRONT ROW, L to R: Glen Ward, Peter Shepherd, Dale Reid, Vernon Crabtree, Robert Lockyer.

Director   Gillian Davies
Musical Director   Eric Thorpe
Choreographer   Shirley Jarrett
Production Manager   Peter Shepherd
Stage Director   Neil Page
Stage Manager   Dale Reid
Assistant Stage Managers   Vernon Crabtree, Jim McFadyen
Wardrobe Mistress   Sue Page
Lighting Design   Gwyn Ace
Sound Technician   Robert Lockyer
Head Flyman   John Collier
Properties Mistress   Glen Ward
Make-up Supervisor   Trish Green
Programme   Robin Johnson, McMillin Craig Ltd.
Company Photographer   James White
House Manager   Peter Shepherd
Assistant to Director   Christine Hewett
Publicity   Robin Johnson
Rehearsal Pianists   Eric Thorpe, Karen Brigg

WARDROBE TEAM
Sue Page,  Robyn Sircombe, Marguerite Andrews, Tracy Streeter, Ruth Butler, Maria Mudford, Kay Collins, Dorothy Pufflett, Marilyn Steed, Ros Van de Ven, Saima Pritchard, Jean Allen, Guiseppa  Bartle, Doreen Ritchie – Milliner, Sue McEachen.

LIGHTING CREW
Gwyn Ace, John Williams, Jill Sweeney, Paul Collier, Tony Fry, Mark Bowen, Peter Eade.

SOUND TEAM
Robert Lockyer, Jim Thorburn, Syd Jago, Donald Hurley, Anne Jago.

MAKE-UP DEPARTMENT
Trish Green, Dawn McCowatt, Jackie Faulknor, Joyce Greenhalgh, Monica Hayden, Helen Jackson, Marie Northe, Christine Prebble, Jill Richards, Marilyn Steed, Jeanette Towers, Minnie Wright.

PROPERTIES TEAM
Glen Ward, Helen Wakely, Sheryle Bullock, Sue Legge, Donna O’Shaughnessy, Jenny Cotterill, Anne Perry, Christine Kenah, Irene Davey, Sally Devlne, Bev Ward, Lynda Shirras, Bronwyn Reed, Linda lee, Sarndra Burne, Sharon Steed Karen White, Stephanie Ballingall, Pip Harris, Geoff Souter, Roy Clements, Joe Dennis, Kerry Wood, Heather Cropper.

STAGE CREW
Dale Reid, Vernon Crabtree, Jim McFadyen, George Ward, Kevin Bartlett, Richard Ward, Doug Ramsay, Alan Holt, Jeff McLaughlin, Paula Jepson, Vonda Christensen, Gaylene Browne, Jeanette Murray.

FLY CREW
John Collier, Rick Gray, Mark Laurent, Kerry Wood, Clayton Spotswood, Grant Plimmer, Marc Collier, Bill Shirras, Warren Soutar, Bruce Robinson, Brian Nathan, Ross Jackson.

CONSTRUCTION CREW
Neill Page, John Briggs, Alan Holt, Brian Nathan, Ross Jackson, Vernon Crabtree, Kevin Bartlett, Malcolm Smith, Doug Ramsay, Jeff Souter, Donald Hurley, Tony Fry, Kerry Wood, Paul Collier, Mark Bound, Sarndra Burne.

PUBLICITY TEAM
Robin Johnson, Fred Twyford, Ian Reid, Barrie Browne, Gavin Long, Oliver Christofferson, Russell Crosse.

FRONT OF HOUSE
Peter Shepherd, Anthony Bewley, Lyndsay Browne, Barrie Browne, Moyra Cox, Alan Jones, Bill Perry, Winton Richards, Ian Reid, Fred Twyford, Marilyn Steed and her many willing helpers.

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for the menu with a touch of
CHICAGO
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McMillin and Craig Limited, Napier