By Jason Emerson
Editor
The Cazenovia High School Drama Club’s spring productions never fail to impress — and this weekend’s show, “Nice Work If You Can Get it,” continues the tradition with great acting, fantastic music and singing, outstanding dance numbers and side-splitting comedy.
Set in the 1920s, “Nice Work If You Can Get It” is the story of charming and wealthy playboy Jimmy Winter, who meets rough female bootlegger Billie Bendix the weekend of his wedding. Jimmy, who has been married three (or is it four?) times before, is preparing to marry Eileen Evergreen, a self-obsessed modern dancer.
Thinking Jimmy and Eileen will be out of town, Billie and her gang hide cases of alcohol the basement of Jimmy’s Long Island mansion. But when Jimmy, his wife-to-be and her prohibitionist family show up at the mansion for the wedding, Billie and her cohorts pose as servants, causing hijinks galore.
As with every CHS production, “Nice Work” is just an all-around fantastic show that will leave your toes tapping, your funny bone aching and your head spinning from the experience. The song and dance numbers are delightfully infectious in their verve and enthusiasm.
Zach Simms, taking on the lead male role of Jimmy Winter, delivers his crowning performance in his four years of CHS Drama Club productions. His vocals have been maturing every year and in this show he flavors his voice with the emotions of the moment, whether singing a drunk speakeasy song, a comical bedroom ditty or a heartfelt love croon. But his acting is what shines in “Nice Work,” perfectly playing the charming yet ignorant playboy who finds himself in one awkward situation after another.
Megan Schwartz, in the lead female role, also delivers a moving performance as Billie Bendrix, the tough bootlegger who falls for Jimmy and finds herself circling through emotions of love, anger, loss and feminine consternation. Schwartz’s Billie makes you feel her outer toughness that suddenly gets cracked by unsuspecting feelings for a man she just met. Her hilarious romp as a tomboy trying to be feminine and sexy for Jimmy in the bedroom scene as she sings “Treat Me Rough” is quite a spectacle.
Other notable performances are given by Betsy Chanatry, as the ditsy modern dancer Eileen Evergreen, Clari Atherlay as the flirtatious chorus girl Jeannie Muldoon and Ronan DeFanti as the clueless yet cuddly Chief Berry.
The two standout performances in this year’s drama club production come from Ava Hartley, as Duchess Estonia Dulworth, and Tim Burr, as Cookie Magee.
Hartley’s acting is so on-point she makes you believe she is a dour old duchess, a sour prohibitionist who is actually hiding her inhibitions deep, deep down under a fierce and doleful frown — only to be hilariously tricked into drinking hooch and swinging drunk from a chandelier. And the sophomore’s powerful voice belting out songs like “Demon Rum” and “By Strauss” just make the audience sit up and take notice.
But the shining star of “Nice Work If You Can Get It” is definitely Burr in his hilarious turn as the cheeky bootlegger Cookie Magee. Burr perfectly channels the brazen yet endearing character and delivers laughs that he makes come from deep down in your gut. In a cast of stupendous teen talent, Burr draws the eye and shines just a bit brighter than the rest — a platinum lynchpin to a downright gold ensemble.
The CHS Drama Club’s performance of “Nice Work If You Can Get It” shows at 7 p.m. tonight, Friday March 9, and Saturday, March 10, in the Cazenovia High School auditorium. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased by calling 315-755-5309 or online at Cazenoviacsd.com.
The cast list includes:
Zach Simms as Jimmy Winter
Megan Schwartz as Billie Bendix
Tim Burr as Cookie McGee
Betsy Chanatry as Eileen Evergreen
Teddy Williams as Duke Mahoney
CJ Monroe as Senator Max Evergreen
Ava Hartley as Duchess Estonia Dulworth
Clari Atherlay as Jeannie Muldoon
Ronan Defanti as Chief Berry
Kayla Karmis as Millicent Winter
Chorus Girls: Lydia Lagorga. Emma Chesbrough, Eva Salzman, Julia Barrett, Claire Edwards, Jenay Griffin, Shea Flannery and Clara Wheeler
Vice Squad: Jon Benn, Kyler Hathaway, Jackson Wright and Dalton Sevier
Ensemble: Max Fischer, Nolan Frisbey, Tony Koppers, Eric Ketcham, Megan Lawton, Kate Martellock, Ian Melvin, Peyton Pinckney, Jared Smith, Jonathan Streeter, Carter Williams, Bella Wendel and Maddie Young
Producers: Maureen Carroll, Maggie Dougherty and Thuc Phan
Co-Directors: Maureen Carrol and Maggie Dougherty
Choreography: Maureen Carroll
Music and Staging: Maggie Dougherty
Scenery: Thuc Phan
Orchestra: Mary Coburn
Costumes: N.J. Burr
