For the second year in a row, the students at West Liberty High school will bring a variety of singing, dancing and acting to their audience through the WLHS Comet Cabaret.
This year’s cabaret will be 7 p.m. May 1, 2 and 3 at the high school auditorium. Tickets are $10 each, and can be purchased digitally at gobound.com/ia/schools/westliberty/tickets
Prior to the start of the cabarets, school drama coach Dorianne Rees said the drama department tried to do spring musicals instead. “Things started falling through, but we still wanted to do a musical performance of some kind, and so Mr. (Jack) Simpson, the choir teachers, and I thought ‘what if we put a bunch of things together and did a cabaret’?”
This year’s cabaret features nearly a dozen musical numbers, with songs like “Seasons of Love,” “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” “I Hate Musicals,, “What I Know Now” and “Marry the Man Today,” among others.
As someone who loves dancing, Alyssa Stagg has helped lead the choreography practice for the show’s biggest musical number. She is also a soloist, and will be performing “Hopelessly Devoted” from the musical Grease.
“I really like musical theatre, and I love both dancing and singing,” Stagg said. “It’s been really fun.”
Over on the acting side of the show, there will also be several short skits and monologues performed by the students. As one of the leading actors in “The Nerd,” Stagg said, “I really think people will enjoy all of the scenes we have, because a lot of them are really funny.”
El Womachka, another one of the show’s performers who will be perfoming a monologue from “Fiddler on the Roof,” said she has always loved doing theatre performances at West Liberty. “I’ve actually done a few shows in the past, and I honestly just really like acting and singing. I appreciate how the cabaret lets you try multiple things at once.”
“We have a lot more acting scenes this year,” Rees said. “I’m excited to show those off. The first year we did it, we only had one or two monologues. This year, we have five or six. It’s more of a collaboration between solos.”
One thing Rees and her students enjoy about the cabaret’s format is how it allows for a more flexible rehearsal schedule, as not every student is needed during every rehearsal like they would be for a more traditional play or musical. This gives students a chance to pursue other extracurriculars alongside the cabaret, as well as receive more one-on-one coaching during rehearsals.
Rees feels the cabaret format also gives students the opportunity to shine more of a spotlight on their different strengths, whether that be dancing, singing, or acting. “It’s nice being able to spotlight different students at each moment.”
A few students were able to try their hand at directing this year, such as senior Jacob Zeman, who is directing the skit “DMV Tyrant.”
Since the second half of his freshman year, Zeman has helped as stage manager behind-the-scenes of many different WLHS drama performances. “It’s fun, and I enjoy doing it,” he said. “What I really like is being able to see the actors who may show up at the start being shy and whispering their lines, and you see them get better and better, and when you finally get to dress rehearsals you’re just like ‘look how far they’ve come!’ That’s always really fun.”
Through being a student director, Zeman says he had to put himself in the perspective of both his actors and the audience as he figured out the best interpretation and layout for the scene.
“Sometimes you’ll sit in the audience and watch them do it, and it’s kind of weird how the little details can impact a lot. I’ll sit in the audience, and I’ll see something and go ‘oh wait, that doesn’t work, I need to fix that’ – like the placement of a computer on a desk blocking an actor’s face,” he said.
Zeman said he plans to pursue more theatre and directing opportunities while in college, as well as band and choir. “In college, my plan is to do as much stuff as I can.”
Though she understands the unique format of the show may not be for everyone, Rees said she was excited for audiences to see it. She also felt lucky for all the support the cabaret has received from school staff and the parents of each cabaret member. “It’s very much community oriented, I think, and I appreciate that a lot.”