By Kelsey Rogers, Asst. living & arts editor
The theatre department will perform a cabaret at 7:30 p.m. on March 31 in Weber Chapel.
Entitled “A Night on Broadway,” the performance will be directed by juniors Caitlin Barnes and Caroline Hunt and feature a variety of genres within the realm of Broadway and classical theatre.
Junior Matthew Sharrock, who is in the performance, said that the directors considered different styles and the capability of the performers when selecting the songs.
“The songs chosen all have a connecting theme of musicals that broke the boundaries of traditional musical theatre,” Sharrock said.
Sharrock continued to describe the group’s practices for the performance and said that they began preparing the group numbers in order to get in sync with each other.
“When we started adding choreography to the music, I had some trouble putting them together, but not everyone can hit a home run on the first try,” Sharrock said.
“Going into our last week, we’re all a little nervous, but I like to think of the nerves as a push to improve,” Sharrock continued.
Sharrock commented that he responds to the audience’s reactions during the show.
“During a performance I always get a rush of excitement and nerves, especially when it’s opening night,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed the reactions from the crowd because we can never be sure about how the audience might react at certain moments.”
Sharrock also singled out the opportunities that theatre gives him to try new things.
“For those two hours on stage, I’m not just myself but someone with completely different experiences and thoughts,” he said. “I like to think that I get to escape from the real world for a bit.”
First-year Mary Cote, who is also performing, said the experience is like completely baring your soul to the world, but in a way that is not your own.
“It’s the song, the character’s soul you are portraying,” Cote said. “It’s invigorating and adrenaline rushing and it is like no other feeling in the world.”
Cote said she saw the show coming together in its final week of preparation.
“I’m honestly really nervous,” Cote said. “But I have an entire cast of wonderful people helping me out and pushing me further every day and a wonderful voice teacher who is absolutely incredible and helps me out in any way I need.”
Other performers in “A Night on Broadway” include junior Daniel Reynolds, sophomore Brian Herrmann, sophomore David Torres, first-year Dylan Taylor, sophomore Rowen Mahoney, first-year Allison Steinert, first-year Isabelle Dara and sophomore Katy Trunz.
