West Bay Community Theater to present CHICAGO – IN CONCERT in August

North Kingstown, RI – West Bay Community Theater presents its August 2025 production of CHICAGO – IN CONCERT on Saturday, August 16th at 7:30pm at the North Kingstown Town Beach bandshell (rain date Sunday, August 17th.)

WBCT returns to the beach with their annual musical extravaganza. Besides a high-quality musical theater experience, audience members will enjoy the beautiful surroundings of the NK Town Beach as well as food truck offerings from Hometown Poke, The Daily Delish, and Palagis.

This production of CHICAGO-IN CONCERT is music-focused, with minimal staging in addition to multimedia support (live video enhancement and show-related imagery). All music will be live with no pre-recorded and/or backing tracks. It’s a feast for the eyes and ears in a hybrid musical theater event! Audience members are encouraged to bring blankets, lawn chairs, insect repellant, and anything else that you need to be comfortable on an August night at the beach.

WBCT has had its eyes on Chicago for a long time, especially after their successful 2023 production of Cabaret.

“Chicago and Cabaret are both Kander and Ebb classics,” says show Director Terry Shea. “They are sister shows in a way, but Chicago is certainly more whimsical and charming. Where Cabaret is darker and ends starkly, Chicago, for all its harsh reality and exploration of fame and the media, leaves audiences smiling and singing along. We may not love all the protagonists of Cabaret, but everyone roots for the two killer (quite literally) divas of Chicago, as well as most everyone else in the story. It’s a tale of survival, street smarts, and gaming a rotten system,  but if you live – they love you! We have an eager and talented cast and a crack orchestra waiting to pull out all the stops for this one. Chicago is one of those shows that, even if you aren’t very familiar, you’ll realize that you know more of this music than you thought you did. We’ve continued to up our game in many technical areas as well, so expect another WBCT blockbuster. Tickets are already outpacing sales for any show we’ve ever produced and it’s only July. You’ll want to get your reservations in sooner rather than later!”

The cast of CHICAGO-IN CONCERT is:

• Annie – Cienna McNamara
• Amos – Greg Gillis
• Billy Flynn – Dave Antocci
• Ensemble – Pam Jackson
• Ensemble – Tali Russell
• Ensemble/Violin – Rylie Appolonia
• Ensemble/Mama Understudy – Mahria Trepes
• Ensemble – Noah Martinez
• Featured Male Ensemble – Mike Daniels
• Hunyak– Elle Roy
• June – Mallory Cash
• Liz – Genevra Stewart
• Mama Morton – Patty Mott
• Mary Sunshine – Paul Newcombe
• Mona – Molly Berard
• Roxie – Madisen Cardona
• Velma – Laura Thompson

About the show:

Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse
Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Based on the play Chicago by Maurine Dallas Watkins

Director: Terry Shea
Music Director: Dave Laros
Choreography: Marley Shaw
Production Design: Terry Shea/Zach Searle
Video Production and Design:  James “Mortal” Sloane
Costume coordination: Stephanie Traversa
Producer: Laura Ash

WBCT’s production will focus on the music of the piece with minimal staging, aided by multimedia support.

CHICAGO is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com (http://www.concordtheatricals.com/)

Synopsis:

Broadway’s longest-running American musical, Chicago is a dazzling and satirical look at fame, justice, and the media machine. Set in 1920s Chicago and based on real-life murders and trials, Chicago follows Roxie Hart, a wannabe vaudevillian star who murders her lover and is arrested, despite her attempts to convince her pushover husband, Amos, to lie for her. In the Cook County Jail, Roxie meets her hero, the famed double-murderess and nightclub performer Velma Kelly. When both acquire the same lawyer, the greedy and lustful superstar, Billy Flynn, tensions come to a head as they vie for the spotlight– though instead of onstage, they’re mugging for the flashbulb of the newspaper reporters. With catchy, sexy music and timeless lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and a funny, intelligent, and utterly engaging book by Kander and Bob Fosse, Chicago is a musical spectacular that is as addictive as gossip rags and as unforgettable as any trial of the century.

Musical Numbers:

• Overture – Orchestra
• All That Jazz – Velma Kelly and Company
• Funny Honey – Roxie Hart, Amos Hart and Sergeant Fogarty
• Cell Block Tango – Velma and the Murdresses
• When You’re Good to Mama – Matron Mama Morton
• All I Care About – Billy Flynn and the Girls
• A Little Bit of Good – Mary Sunshine
• We Both Reached for the Gun – Billy, Roxie, Mary and the Reporters
• Roxie – Roxie and the Boys
• I Can’t Do It Alone – Velma
• Chicago After Midnight – Orchestra
• My Own Best Friend – Roxie and Velma Act 2
• Entr’acte – Orchestra
• I Know a Girl – Velma
• Me and My Baby – Roxie and Company
• Mr. Cellophane – Amos
• When Velma Takes the Stand – Velma and the Boys
• Razzle Dazzle – Billy and Company
• Class – Velma and Mama Morton
• Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag – Velma and Roxie
• Finale – Company

WHAT: CHICAGO – IN CONCERT
WHEN: Saturday, August 16, 2025 @ 7:30pm (Rain date – Sunday, 8/17)
WHERE: North Kingstown Town Beach Bandshell, 10 Beach Street, North Kingstown, RI
HOW: $20 regular admission / $15 Students, Seniors, Active Military (ID’s may be required) Tickets on sale at http://www.wbctheater.org/box-office
 
 
About West Bay Community Theater:
 
West Bay Community Theater is a North Kingstown-based 501 (c) (3) arts organization founded in 2018 by former members of Academy Players and North Kingstown Players in order to re-establish a community theater in the West Bay region of Rhode Island. In August of 2024, WBCT successfully presented GREASE-IN CONCERT, followed by their annual Halloween-themed cabaret, Spirits, at the Arctic Playhouse. The 2026 WBCT season will be announced just prior to the performance on August 16th.

TERRENCE SHEA
PRESIDENT, WBCT