Over this past weekend, the second annual student cabaret lit up the stage in the Greathouse Theatre. The music was made up of songs from various musicals using the theme, “Walking into a New World.” The show, put on by both theater majors and minors, is something that the cast has been working on for all of the semester thus far.
When asked about her work on the cabaret, vocal director and cast member Summer Hollis said, “This year’s cabaret is actually carrying over from last year. We started working on this last fall because we wanted to make sure we had a strong team.” The cast worked hard to pick and learn pieces that they felt could represent the Asbury Theatre Department properly.
The setlist of the performance included a wide variety of themes, including reacting to change, friendship and finding inner strength. The opener, “Welcome to the Rock” from the musical “Come From Away,” was sung by the entire cast and featured exciting choreography and incredible singing. Other ensemble songs included “Welcome to Wonderland” from “Wonderland: Alice Through a Whole New Looking Glass,” “Prancing Pony” from “Fellowship!: The Musical Parody of the ‘The Fellowship of the Ring,” and “Dig a Little Deeper” from “The Princess and the Frog.”
The following songs were done by pairs of each of the cast, giving everyone a time to shine; “City of Stars” from La La Land with Luke Clark and Summer Hollis, “Partner in Crime” from the musical “Tuck Everlasting” with Gabby Stockton and Luke Clark, “Travel Song” from “Shrek the Musical” with Jocelyn Schulte and Gabby Butler, “Macavity the Mystery Cat” from “Cats” with Jazmyn Lorentzen and Joelle Yoder, “All Alone” from “Monty Python Spamalot” with Luke DeMena and Joelle Yoder, “Don’t Lose Ur Head” from “Six the Musical” featuring Audrey Harris, “Open Arms” from “Epic the Concept Musical” with Gabby Stockton and Jocelyn Schulte and “BFF” from “Spongebob the Musical” with Luke Clark and Gabby Butler.
The stage crew of the show was Bek Askey as producer, Jazmyn Lorentzen as Writer, Summer Hollis as Vocal Director, Ivy Romines as Stage Manager. The technical crew contained Matthew Terwilliger as Audio Engineer, Caelan Dietrich as Lighting Designer and Grady Dietrich as Light Board Operator. Music was provided by Emma Ortiz on the piano and Ethan Howard on drums.
Talking about what she wanted the audience to take away, Hollis said, “I think just the creativity in some of the staging and acting that we’ve put together. You can see everybody’s creative voice through the different numbers.”
After the performance, audience member Makina Riggs commented, “The Cabaret is a good break from the stress of everyday life. There wasn’t a part that I didn’t enjoy.”
When asked about her experience with the Cabaret, cast member Jazmyn Lorentzen said, “It’s been a great experience getting to collaborate with my friends and experiment. We all just have a mutual respect and love for each other.”
Lorentzen finished with, “I hope the audience can see that this show is mostly just for fun. It doesn’t have to make sense. But that they can see our heart for music and theater and that you can find joy in the little things in life.” Ultimately, the production sought to bring happiness to campus through song and dance.
Photo by Alanna May.
