Theater Circle cabaret features performances, audience interaction

Dim, red lighting in the Tudor Room of the Indiana Memorial Union provided dramatic effect for the evening of cabaret presented by IU Musical Theatre students Friday.

Members of the Theatre Circle, contributors to the IU Theatre and Drama Department, family, friends, faculty and students sat at tables chatting over chicken roulade and vegetable tortes prior to the performance.

Terry LaBolt, musical director of the Musical Theatre Program, said the cabaret setting offered the chance for performers to be themselves and to discover their own tastes in performance style.

“The students have to be themselves — they can’t have an English accent,” LaBolt said. “They just have to be them.”

As the dinner portion wound down, students began to prepare for their performances.
Theatre Department Chairperson Jonathan Michaelson opened the evening by thanking audience members.

The evening was created to celebrate the students and to thank the Theatre Circle members for their charitable donations throughout the year, Michaelson said.

In addition to showing his gratitude to the patrons of the cabaret and the actors themselves, Michaelson announced to the audience the upcoming, intended show selections for the theatre.

LaBolt also expressed thanks for some of the other faculty members and then proceeded to the performance section of the cabaret, playing piano for most of the students’ musical ensembles.

Students performed a variety of solos and duets for the audience. Song selections varied from contemporary to more classic pieces.

“You can have a good time with the audience — interacting with them as opposed to the fourth wall that’s usually present,” said sophomore musical theatre student Colin Van Wye. “It’s not as much pressure — it’s more laid back.”

Junior Evan Mayer said the cabaret offers opportunities not given in other performances.

“We get to do a lot of material we don’t usually perform,” Mayer said.

The performance included songs such as “Nothing Really Happened” from the musical “Is There Life After High School?” sung by Jenna Schneider, Nat King Cole’s song “Almost Like Being in Love” performed by Nathan Robbins and “Rita’s Tune” from the musical “Sweet Smell of Success” sung by Charnette Batey.

“It’s remarkable to watch them discover the material,” LaBolt said. “It seems foreign and dated at first, and then, like Shakespeare, the poetic language unlocks for them and they develop real affection.”