On the night of Nov. 8, 100 audience members poured into the cabaret setting on the Allaert Auditorium stage, which was filled with tables, chairs, drinks, and haze to set the mood.
The near-instant full house for "A Night at the Cabaret" electrified the 16 performers who were part of the Musical Theatre class offered every other year. They entered the smokey, dimly lit cabaret setting to the audience's cheers. Each readied themselves to perform a song in front of a live audience.
From the first song – first-year Joe Lasher's "little song about faith" that took a sincerely comedic turn – the audience realized they had been invited to a celebration of life where nothing was as expected. And what a celebration it was!
Despite the seemingly narrow genre of musical theatre, the audience included more than just the typical theatre-goers. The cabaret allowed for everyone in the audience to take part and find a place where they could belong since the songs performed portrayed people from all walks of life. Some performers covered somber topics, such as immigrant life and the struggles faced by Hispanic Americans, the bond between a single mother and her struggling child, and the fight for life and freedom in a courtroom.
Other performers went a dramatic route such as celebrating their identity, wishing for a better life, arguing with a loved one and realizing that innocence can be abused.
Still, other performers chose lighter topics. Sophomore Tyler Hughes lamented the hardships of "gardening" of all things! Sophomores Elli Decker and Ellie Larson both explored love: falling into love with someone unexpectedly and then humorously falling out of love. One song even told the account of a student's hectic day, a topic with which nearly everyone in the room was familiar!
On stage in front of the audience, the performers radiated energy and excitement. This was finally their chance to take people to the world and story that they had been so carefully crafting since the beginning of the year. Since each performer introduced his/her song with stories and revelations about their own lives, the cabaret also became a celebration of their story.
Audience members laughed, cried, and cheered as the performers revealed their own history: dreaming of a new and vibrant future, bemoaning relationship struggles, navigating a painful break-up and imagining a wild, partying personality, to name a few.
After the success of the cabaret, the class will continue preparing for upcoming professional auditions in front of local professionals.
To anyone who was inspired by these dazzling performers, the class will be offered next in 2020, taught by theatre professor Dr. Corinne Johnson and guest music professor Ron May. The performers invite you to join in the tradition of musical storytelling, because after all, "Life is a cabaret, old chum!"
The performances included (in no particular order):
• "So Big, So Small" from Dear Evan Hansen sung by junior Abbie Carpenter
• "I Loved You Too Much" from I Could Use a Drink sung by senior Sarah Goodall
• "I Am What I Am" from La Cage aux Folles sung by junior T.J. Green
• "Life of the Party" from The Wild Party sung by junior Jessica Karolczak
• "Love is an Open Door" from Frozen sung by sophomore Allison Hutson and first-year Keegan Harry
• "If I Didn't Believe in You" from The Last Five Years sung by first-year Keegan Harry
• "Calm" from Ordinary Days sung by junior Megan Peterson
• "Pretty Funny" from Dogfight sung by sophomore Allison Hutson
• "Grow for Me" from Little Shop of Horrors sung by sophomore Tyler Hughes
• "Inútil" from In the Heights sung by fifth-year Christian Colmenares
• "Pulled" from The Addams Family sung by sophomore Elli Decker
• "Hard to Speak My Heart" from Parade sung by sophomore Anthony Duckett
• "100 Ways to Lose a Man" from Wonderful Town sung by sophomore Ellie Larson
• "I Believe" from Book of Mormon sung by first-year Joe Lasher
• "Wouldn't it be Loverly" from My Fair Lady sung by senior Kendall McKasson
• "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" from Annie Get Your Gun sung by senior Halie Osborn
• "I Want to Be a Producer" from The Producers sung by sophomore Luke Peterson
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