Photo by: Henoc Kivuye
A concert and candlelight dinner will be the highlights of Oklahoma Christian University’s Valentine Cabaret on Feb. 13-15.
The Valentine’s Day Cabaret is directed by Chad Anderson, who directed the Oklahoma Christian adaption of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” and over the years has directed several other Valentine’s Day Cabarets. Music director and pianist Eric Grigg will assist Anderson.
Senior Alyssa Jackson said this cabaret would be different. In past years, the show consisted of Broadway reviews or shorter musical acts.
“We’ve done Rodgers and Hammerstein reviews and we’ve done contemporary Broadway reviews – last year we did a jazz set,” Jackson said. “Before any of us were even here, they did small musicals like ‘You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown.’ What’s different about this year is that the cast is only four people and it’s a small musical, and it’s called ‘Songs for a New World.’”
Senior Brian Wilcox added that this year the Valentine’s Day Cabaret would have some surprises.
“Usually it’s a musical review, but this year we’re doing an actual musical that has been on Broadway before [and] that has been established,” Wilcox said. “We’re not making up the show ourselves. It’s a show that has been performed before.”
The theme this year is “Songs for a New World,” written by Tony award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown. It consists of sixteen musical numbers, combining pop, rock, gospel and jazz elements. According to Brown, the show is about one moment; hitting a wall and having to make a choice, or take a stand or turn around and go back.
The cycle also includes the song “Stars and Moon,” popularized by Tony-award winning actress Audra McDonald.
“I have four different solos and each different solo is a different character and everybody’s part is like that,” Jackson said. “[The story] kind of flows together to make one storyline of when you expect life to turn out a certain way and it doesn’t. It’s like the harsh realities of life and how to deal with it.”
The signature candlelight dinner is scheduled to commence at 6 p.m. in the McIntosh Conservatory, located in the Garvey Center.
Jackson stated that this is not just for people who love musicals, but for any individual who enjoys good music and a good show.
“I think that it’ll be entertaining for anybody,” Jackson said. “I think that people who really enjoy musicals are going to appreciate it a little more, especially if they like contemporary stuff. … It’s different but it’s a good kind of different.”
The cast consists of Wilcox, Jackson and freshmen Micah Ndiba and Kendall Haliburton.
The show is working under experienced direction, according to Wilcox.
“Chad went to school here in the ‘90s and he did the school musical, and he’s been directing the musical and the cabaret for more than five years,” Wilcox said.
Since it is a musical, the cabaret should attract a spread of both younger and older audiences, according to Wilcox.
“Usually our crowd is a lot of older people, but we’re trying to advertise a bit better this year,” Wilcox said. “We’re going to do a chapel announcement, which we have never done before. We have stuff in the local newspapers advertising it, we have posters up in places that aren’t just OC, like a coffee shop and stuff.”
As a cast member, Wilcox enjoys what they are doing this year.
“I’ve been involved with four [shows] that were just like the old style, and I get to do this new one before I graduate and it’s a lot more interesting,” Wilcox said. “It’s fun to do something new – it’s definitely good.”
Director Chad Anderson, a 1998 Oklahoma Christian graduate, has been the director for the Valentine’s Day Cabaret for 13 years.
“This musical was written in the late ‘90s and it is a collection of songs,” Anderson said. “They all tell a different story, each about different people in different situations where they have to make a life-changing decision – [it’s] very beautiful music, and our cast of four sings it very beautifully.”
Anderson said they have done musicals in the past for the Valentine’s Cabaret, but the reason for doing it this year is to have a change.
“We’ve done musicals before, but it’s just once and awhile,” Anderson said. “It’s nice to get away from the review format and do something that has an arc.”
The concert begins at 7 p.m. in the Adams Recital Hall. The dinner and the show costs $25, the show itself costs $10.
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