Amherst Central High School Performs “Chicago: Teen Edition”

Amherst Central High School’s 77th Operetta performance of “Chicago: Teen Edition” brings a popular musical to the stage that gets the performers singing with great musical accompaniment from a student-led pit orchestra and dancing on a creative set design. Performances were held Feb. 6-7, 2026. 

Set in the Roaring Twenties, “Chicago: Teen Edition” tells the riveting tale of Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly, two women desperate for the spotlight amidst a corrupt justice system.

For the students in the cast, pit orchestra and stage crew, a recurrent theme is that they all feel like a family and each group works as hard as they can so everyone shines.

“The bonds are a big thing of why I've always been in theater,” said sophomore Willow Julian who plays Roxie Hart. “Meeting new people, meeting new friends and getting to do it through something creative and fun is really exciting.”

 “We have a really good community and a good team. It's like a family,”  said senior Ryan Duggan, assistant stage crew chief.

Senior Melana Spoljaric, who plays cell block girl June, said this production is a great way for her to finish out her senior year because everyone has been a big family. “We are eat, sleep, breathe Operetta right now, and I really want the audience to know that we spent so much of our time dedicated to giving them a great show,” she said.

“I've really enjoyed how supportive everyone has been of me, especially with English not being my first language,” said Jochem Swijnenburg, an exchange student from The Netherlands, who has a role in the Ensemble. “I was very nervous for the audition and seeing how I would do with learning everything, but everyone's been really kind to me and helping me, and I've enjoyed seeing how everything is coming together in one big piece.”

Justin Pomietlarz, director of choral activities and Operetta director, said “Chicago: Teen Edition” was selected because they wanted to contrast the production of “Cats” last year with something familiar to the kids that got them dancing and moving and that has great orchestrations for the instrumental kids.

“We have such an incredible orchestra program. So we are selecting this show which has a contemporary sort of feel to it, yet also provides opportunities for our instrumentalists to be featured and have this amazing collaboration,” Pomietlarz said.

Leaning into his role as attorney Billy Flynn, sophomore Henry McLaughlan said one of the hardest challenges for him is playing a character with a personality that is so different from his own. “Putting myself out there and opening up wide and really giving my all is very difficult to do,” he said. 

Sophomore Robert Jamieson who plays Amos Hart said his acting goal is to have the audience feel sympathetic to his character.

With a production that incorporates Fosse-like iconic choreography, getting the timing of the moves, along with the singing and speaking roles has been challenging for both the cast and the pit orchestra. 

“Learning all of these very elaborate dances, they have to be very timed with music, and you're making the music, you're singing as well,” said junior Asher Belkorchi who plays Velma Kelly. “There's certain times when you have to be real tight and all together, and then there's real loose, and they have to be very distinctive, so that's another layer that we as actors, dancers, singers have to be thinking about, and have to be applying.”

From the pit orchestra perspective, the musicians pay attention to their conductor but are also keeping an eye and ear to what’s happening on stage. “We have to get used to fully memorizing parts of our music, so we can have all eyes on the conductor,” said senior Rebecca Enser who plays French Horn.  “We have to be able to stop immediately with like almost no signal other than we're done, we gotta move on, which is very different from our other shows, because when they're mostly singing, it's a set tempo, it's a set speed, you follow the singer, and you just go through the music.” 

For senior Talia Ciccarella, who plays trombone in the pit orchestra, she really loves that they are doing a jazz show. “It's not something you see often in operetta or plays or anything, so being able to experience learning jazz music, it's really interesting to see how everything changes and how the music is just so different from things we usually play in school,” she said.

Talia wants people to walk away thinking ‘I can't believe that was a high school orchestra’ because not many high schools have a live orchestra accompanying a production. “I want them to walk away thinking that we look professional and we are professional,” she said.

Senior Flora Laurian, the stage crew chief, said the biggest thing she wants the audience to take away is the hard work that they have all put into this production. “On the crew side of things, it's been  a challenge to make the best set and the best show possible with the resources we have when our set is the whole length of the stage and it's six feet tall and it can hold 20 people,” she said.

Musical theater at Amherst Schools has a strong tradition that starts in elementary and middle school.

“The community really wants to support this 77-year Operetta tradition. There's no other high school that can claim that, and I'm proud that this is my 20th Operetta,” said Pomietlarz. 

“When I was in eighth grade, I came to the high school to watch “Sweeney Todd”, which was the musical at the time, and when I saw that, I knew I wanted to be in the stage crew, because it was a very complicated and impressive set. I think about that when I'm working on the set, and I think I want people in the audience to have seen the show, and be inspired, and maybe kids in high school want to join the drama club as a result,” said Ryan Duggan, assistant stage crew chief.