Elisha Bae
Curtain Call For Chicago
Today marked the end of our Chicago performance! We performed two days in a row and I feel so happy that it ended so well đ Unfortunately, it was flu season in school which meant that almost everyone was sick. It started off as one or two people coughing and before we knew it, everyone was dying from sniffles and coughs. In my case, the cold hit me hard for my throat and I couldnât make a squeak. But in the luckiest turn of events, I managed to belt out âWhen Youâre Good To Mamaâ, the iconic song of Mama Morton for both performances. The staging of our show was most interesting, as it wasnât your typical âhereâs the stage where we perform, thatâs the seat where youâll sit and watchâ. It was fully immersive, with the stage going around 3 of the 4 sides of the Drama Studio like a catwalk and the audience located in the middle with swivelling chairs as well as at the front of the whole stage for a 360 degree view. The nice mix of songs, dances, and acting made Chicago even better for the audience. Since it was done in school, there were some measures taken to lessen the âcrudenessâ of the original show, but I donât think that took away from enjoying the show. Playing 2 main roles â Mama Morton and Mary Sunshine â and being the chorus singer took a lot of effort but I had fun nonetheless. Especially because Mama and Mary were drastically different characters, I was able to experiment with my characterisations of them. The iconic âCell Block Tangoâ was performed extremely well by the dancers and singers and even though we had shortened the run-time, people were able to follow the story without trouble. We had a short after party but since everyone was worn out by the show, we headed back home early. It was my first time being casted as someone who has a strong character like Mama Morton, and I couldnât be happier with how I portrayed her in the musical. It feels as if my field of âplayable charactersâ expanded significantly.