Chantilly High senior Kelly Sharon is fast becoming an expert at multi-tasking. For her school's production of "Chicago," Nov. 2-5, she was one of the costume designers, the assistant choreographer and an actress in a supporting role.
Sharon, 17, designed the clothes with classmate Molly Bridenbaugh. "We tried to incorporate the Bob Fosse style with the flapper thing going on at the time [the 1920s]," said Sharon. "So we have flapper dresses for one number and stylized costumes for the 'Cell Block Tango' number."
COSTUMES FOR the other songs were time-period appropriate. Boys wore double-breasted suit jackets, button-up shirts and vests, plus cuffed pants. Girls were also dressed stylishly.
"For example, in the number, 'All I Care about is Love,' they wore ivory satin tunic dresses and black satin, elbow-length gloves," said Sharon. "I think they looked really nice. And for whole-cast numbers, we had skirts and button-up shirts."
For the song, "Razzle Dazzle," all the performers wore red-sequined accents. The boys wore them as either hat bands or ties, and the girls either wore them as scarves in their hair or tied them around their necks or waists. Sharon said the accents added "some color and a little sparkle."
She said the most difficult part was "not taking all of our ideas from the movie. We also had a hard time finding information about the type of dresses people wore — and having the time or budget to make them. What they enjoyed most of all was "making everyone's costume a little unique. By giving them each accent pieces, they could make the costumes their own. It added a creative touch."
As for choreography, Sharon said it's tough to do it for the entire cast because "you don't have them with you when you're doing it. So you come into rehearsal and say, 'This is what I want to do — I don't know whether it'll work.'"
But she said it's actually worked out well and everyone in the cast was cooperative, helpful, understanding and encouraging, saying things such as, "That's a really good dance; good job." Said Sharon: "This is the first thing I've choreographed. I did three numbers and Rebecca McKendry, a Robinson [Secondary] film and English teacher, did the rest."
IN HER ACTING hat, Sharon played one of the six "merry murderers" who spoke during the "Cell Block Tango" number: "I was 'Pop' — the one who shot her husband for popping his gum — which is ironic because I pop my gum all the time."
She auditioned for the role and volunteered to make costumes "since it's always interested me and I wanted to try my hand at it. And Becca asked Mrs. K. [director Shannon Khatcheressian] to ask me to help with the choreography because I'd danced for her in two of her previous [little theater] productions.
Still, even though Sharon was quite busy doing all three jobs — not to mention juggling them with schoolwork and a personal life — she didn't complain. When asked which one she liked the best, she replied, "I loved doing all of them; I really couldn't choose."