Maddie Swick as Roxie in Blue Mountain High School's production of "Chicago." PHOTOS BY JACQUELINE DORMER
Originally published in the Pottsville Republican-Herald on March 24, 2022.
After performing internationally as an opera singer and teaching voice lessons in Pottsville, Tammy Wapinsky has taken on a new role: directing a high school musical.
The first-year music teacher at Blue Mountain High School has sung in the grand opera houses of Sweden, Italy, Mexico and Canada, but now she’s headed to “Chicago.”
Blue Mountain students will present the scathing musical satire of celebrity and scandal, set against the jazzy backdrop of the 1920s, at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. Sunday.
“Chicago” is the first traditional musical Blue Mountain has done since before the pandemic. The 2020 musical, “Beauty and the Beast,” was canceled one day before opening night. 2021’s “The Addams Family” had to be performed outdoors, with Gomez, Morticia and the rest wearing masks.
Wapinsky, therefore, wants the attention to be on the students, not on her.
“I had my career and plenty of time to be in the spotlight,” she said. “I want them to shine and be the stars of the show. They really are a talented group and I love them.
“I never realized the amount of time, dedication, energy and emotion that goes into producing a show.”
Tammy Wapinsky.
“Chicago,” the second-longest-running show in Broadway history, tells the story of Roxie Hart, a Jazz Age wild child who shoots her boyfriend. Roxie is incarcerated in Cook County Jail with six “merry murderesses,” including aspiring vaudeville star Velma Kelly. Roxie’s trial becomes a media sensation, and Velma sees an opportunity to ride Roxie’s coattails into fame and fortune.
Blue Mountain is using the “high school edition” of the script, which excises some of the more risqué parts of the original version, but retains its sharp wit and strong female characters.
“Blue Mountain Drama Club is female-dominant,” Wapinsky said, “and when choosing the production of the spring musical, we had to look at the ratio of females to males in the club and choose accordingly.”
“Chicago” premiered on Broadway in 1975, and its 1996 revival is still playing today. Choreographer Amanda Johns will channel the iconic original staging by Bob Fosse, while Wapinsky’s directing is inspired by both the Broadway show and the Academy Award-winning 2002 film adaptation starring Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Maddie Swick as Roxie and Julie Carestia as Velma.
A small army of parents is working alongside them.
“We are grateful for the dads who built the sets,” Wapinsky said, “the moms who gave all their time to organize the front of the house, put the programs together, built the magnificent costumes, helped behind the scenes and shared their children with us for the past three months.”
Tickets for “Chicago” are $10 and are available at https://blue-mountain-high-school-musical.ticketleap.com/.
Brandi Kline, North Schuylkill high school choir director and music teacher, is directing the school’s performance of “The Wizard of Oz.” It is the first live and in-person musical she directed — last year’s “Mary Poppins” was released virtually.
“We’ve still been fighting through students getting quarantined because of COVID, but as we got through our play seasons, the mitigations have lessened.”
The students are excited to be putting on a live show for the first time in two years.
“They’re working so hard,” Kline said. “I can see that they’re going home and practicing at home, and coming back better than when they left rehearsal. There’s just so much passion”
School | Show | Performances |
Blue Mountain | Chicago | March 25 and 26 at 7 p.m., March 27 at 2 p.m. |
Mahanoy Area | Legally Blonde | April 8 and 9, 7 p.m. |
Marian Catholic | Shrek | April 1 and 2, 7 p.m. |
Minersville | Chicago | March 31, April 1 and April 2 at 7 p.m. |
Nativity BVM | Something Rotten! | May 13, 14 and 15 |
North Schuylkill | The Wizard of Oz | April 1 and 2 at 7 p.m., April 3 at 3 p.m. |
Pottsville | Anastasia | April 1 at 2 p.m., April 2 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and April 3 at 2 p.m. |
Shenandoah Valley | You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown | April 29 and 30 at 7 p.m., May 1 at 2 p.m. |
Schuylkill Haven | Legally Blonde | April 8 and 9 at 7 p.m., April 10 at 3 p.m. |
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