As lights went on and cameras flashed, the stage lit up with a variety of melodies as the musical theatre students performed their Cabaret show. The show involved combining songs from several musicals into one big performance.

Combining their own learning experience with a fun production in which many students at the school may be interested, musical theatre students put on a show composed of different, short musicals, each group of actors putting on a different show.

“The cabaret was basically an assignment for the musical theatre class where we had to pick a song from any Broadway show,” junior Kate Sheets said. “We later had the opportunity to perform it and it was open for everyone to come and see.”

With songs ranging from typical romance to the struggles of fitting in in high school, each student chose their own song to perform. They decided to choose a song that best reflected their personality.

“For my play I performed a powerful goddess that my teacher had been wanting me to perform for a while,” senior Annika Johnson said. “I decided to do it because it’s a powerful song and it was exciting to be able to play her in contrast of some of the other roles I’ve been given.”

Other students decided to choose a song that brought out their individual skills. Some students, such as Sheets, chose songs they were more familiar with.

“I chose to sing ‘Waving through a window’ from ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ because it fits my vocal range,” Sheets said. “I liked it since it was from a well known musical, and even though it was very belt-y and I didn’t know if I would be able to hit all the notes that night everyone backstage said I did very well and all my friends said they were very impressed.”

And other students chose a song that reflected their interests. Senior Bella Birdsley, for example, chose to sing “No One Else,” a romantic story involving a princess.

“The range of the song is perfect for me,” Birdsley said. ”It has some impressive notes toward the end and the song itself just sounds really enchanting and dreamy.”

Students, such as Birdsley, also got new acting skills from this performance and gained experience of acting in front of an audience.

“This experience really helped me to get more comfortable on stage in more of an informal setting,” Birdsley said. “It was also a great experience for people who had never performed in front of an audience to get out there and try it.”

As the different holidays came around, the theatre was busy planning for bigger plays and didn’t have as much time as they would like to for preparing for this show, according to Johnson. However, they still managed to find the moment to run the show.

“With other plays happening almost at the same time, such as our fall musical of ‘Carrie’ and the upcoming play of ‘Something Rotten,’ there were a lot of productions going on and not enough time for preparation,” Johnson said. “But with our tech team helping us solve the technical problems that came up, we were able to run the show pretty smoothly.”

The theatre department runs multiple shows of different genres all throughout the year, so don’t forget to check out one of the upcoming performances, such as “Something Rotten.” For more information speak to Alisa Mirabella in the theatre room.