The newly-renovated Judd Theater will host this year’s Cabaret, titled “A Taste of Broadway.” As opposed to previous years, where the main focus of the show was love songs, this year the cast will perform a variety of songs ranging from “The Greatest Showman” to “Hamilton.”
“My solo song is ‘Bird’ from ‘Hamilton,’” Oklahoma Christian University senior Meagan Deister said. “We have songs from ‘The Greatest Showman,’ ‘Dear Evan Hansen,’ and we have songs that aren’t necessarily Broadway, but they’re jazzy songs. One of them is ‘I Got the Music in Me’ by Velma Houston.”
Last year, the show included more solos compared to this year, where group numbers dominate the playbill, Deister said.
“There’s a lot more group numbers,” Deister said. “We have about double the amount of group numbers. The jazz band is performing with us a lot more this year. In order to shorten the show, Deister said this year only a few cast members will perform a solo, whereas in previous years everyone was given a solo. As soon as students arrived back from Christmas break, Deister said they got right to work preparing for the mid-semester show.
“We had to learn all our music over Christmas break,” Deister said. “We had to have everything memorized. We had three weeks to get that down. That was hard because we had to learn twelve group numbers and, plus if you’re in a solo or small group, then you had to learn that, too.”
According to senior Kayti Alvarez, with the addition of more group numbers, this year’s Cabaret presents a new set of difficulties.
“More choreography is the hardest part,” Alvarez said. “There are maybe four of us who have taken dance lessons. We have two who are trained dancers, and we have a few who have just taken lessons. Everyone is pretty good at understanding. If we keep messing up, we all get frustrated with ourselves. It’s not that we’re frustrated, it’s more just like, ‘Man, I wish I could get this step.’”
The Cabaret was blessed by a donor, Mo Anderson with an all-expenses-paid cruise over spring break, where the cast and crew will perform two nights on the ship and enjoy the week at sea, Deister said.
“Mo Anderson donated money for us to go on this cruise for free,” Deister said. “We’re performing either two or three times on the cruise.”
According to Alvarez, cabaret is a way for students to show their peers and family the musical talent they possess.
“We’ve worked so hard on everything,” Alvarez said. “That includes lighting. We have a work day where we set up all of the lights and all of the set and make sure the mics are working… I think people should come because it’s cool to see your friends on stage. And because we have engineers, we have people who don’t usually do music stuff. It’s really cool for them to show off their talent. It kind of brings everyone together.”
The Cabaret will be performed in Judd Theater on Tuesday, Feb. 12, at 7:30 p.m., and Thursday, Feb. 14, through Saturday, Feb. 16, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the box office or online.
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