Student Blog: Cabaret Night: A Night At The Movies

In my university, we get a lot of opportunities to either watch a performance or be a part of one which is one of the things I love about it. It never gets boring because there will always be something to and I love getting in on the fun.

Every semester, my course would host a fund-raiser cabaret where musical theatre students across the years get to perform, and I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them all since I came to university. They are entirely student led, and the board who runs it are student representatives from third year. The money that’s raised goes to the hosts’ charity of choice and we all have a swell of a night! So, I thought to audition for the most recent one, that happened on the 15th of March, in the midst of show week for 9 to 5. Most of them had a theme such as songs from Musicals Across the Decades, and this time it was A Night At the Movies which included movie musicals, movie soundtracks, Disney and so on!

I’d never been in a cabaret in front of a live audience before as the last one I was in was in front of an audience over Zoom during lockdown which did not have as much of a thrill as this one. On top of class work and such, the experience was not in the least bit stressful. It was hardly a task, just something to look forward to.

I had auditioned with ‘Other Friends’ from the Steven Universe movie which was initially the song I was supposed to perform, but I ended up singing with my beloved bestie, Eloise Chandler-Williams, who I get no classes with at all because we think the universe is against us ever working together. We had to take advantage of this chance immediately. As soon as we heard that we’d gotten in, we proposed singing Free from Barbie’s Princess & The Pauper and it was incredible getting to open the Barbie section. On top of that, we got to close the section with I’m Just Ken from the Barbie movie as an ensemble.

The rehearsal process came and went really quickly since the only thing we really had to rehearse was I’m Just Ken and duets. But quickly as it went, I just want to share my experience of being a part of a cabaret! There was nothing more cathartic than getting to play around as Kens during the staging of the number and getting to know the other performers across the years. There were three performers from each year which had not been intentional since it was by volunteer basis that we got to do the number, and it worked perfectly.

Our directors, who were our third years, were a joy to work with. They got cracking immediately and we got to work with some elements from the movie in the choreography which obviously got us all giddy and excited. This number was meant to be a surprise for the audience, and it was safe to say that everyone loved it.

The rehearsals were simple. We would have them in the evening after our classes, past 6 pm when everyone was sure to be out of class. We would begin with a vocal warm-up then a bit of a stretch before getting to mapping out the dance then getting in minor details. We only had three days to rehearse since everyone’s schedules were tight as we come closer to assessment season, and third years were (and still are!) in rehearsals for their final showcase which is the musical, Women on The Verge of A Breakdown. Though, three days were truly all we needed for that masterpiece. Picking it up came easy and thankfully, with the numbers that there were in each year, it was easy rehearsing with only the people in my year since we could easily meet up for a quick run through.

A week before the cabaret, we had a session scheduled for all of us to practice bows and sing our songs in front of each other just for practice. The directors had also wanted to listen to us altogether so that the first time would not be during tech the next Wednesday. As they already know what we sound like, it was more so that we could practice our songs at least once in case some of us do not have the allowance to practice outside of the studio. It was a lovely session with so much love and support from everyone, and it was the perfect time to plant people in the audience in case some songs had dialogue in them which was the case for most songs from animated movies. More surprises for the audience!

On the week itself, just a few days before, we had a tech rehearsal in the space which my university calls the Vault. It’s a little bar area with enough space to accommodate plenty of chairs and tables and a stage. Additional seats are also the provided booths they have but they are mostly lined behind the second bar which blocks the stage completely, so, we used that space for our belongings. Mainly bags and coats. We were taught how to handle the microphones and their stands as we would have to adjust them on our own to our desired height or slot them off and on the stands depending on what we were doing for our numbers. There was a lot of delicate detailing we had to be mindful of and that also included switching microphones off and on before and after our numbers, so it was the time for us to practice. I doubt any of us wanted to risk any malfunctions or breaking of the tools days before so we ran things through a couple of times with multiple tutorials which was well needed for me. I didn’t think I’d be so stressed out about mics but here we are.

And then came cabaret night. It was wild having a class less than two hours ago before the cabaret. There was a lot of hurrying back home from our lecture to prepare then hustling over to the Vault for call time in the most composure we could muster but it got the adrenaline running. Seeing everyone transform from the usual rehearsal blacks to dresses and suits has always been my favorite part of the night. We tossed our bags aside in our designated area, scuttled backstage and then came the wait. All of us were dressed accordingly to our characters, and I feel like I’d been transported. The most magical change of all was from our dresses to our Ken fits. My duet partner and I thought we had a lot more time before our song but before we knew it, we were on stage having a swell time.

We had just one song in between for a quick change into our Ken costumes and it was the number everyone was most excited to do. While the stage was a lot smaller than the studio we practiced in, plus a lot of wires, everything worked out brilliantly. That was until the lights went out midway, and I’ve never experienced a more beautiful moment in theatre. There was a brief moment of panic when the lights went out, but we kept it going with just as much energy even if the audience could not see us. Thankfully we were at a point where there was less travelling on stage which prevented any tripping hazards but at that point, we did not quite know what else to do but perform. Then the magic happened. Someone in the audience held up their phone with their torch and it was followed by a sea of flashlights to light the stage. I was on the verge of tears. The audience sang along and the energy on stage shot right through the roof; it was just incredible.

The lights were back on for the next number which was a relief and the rest of the cabaret went smoothly. Lights or not, I would not have had I’m Just Ken go any other way. The best part was we were asked to do it a second time as an encore despite how some of us were already in dresses for bows. We had just gotten off the stage after bows, ready to rejoin our friends in the audience when we heard chanting. The hosts returned to the stage to make a little announcement before one of them popped in backstage to tell us that we were going to do it again with, jokingly, thirty seconds to get changed. My costume was in my bag, snug in the booths behind the bar, so there was no chance I was going to be able to pull that off. Eloise and I just did it, and everyone seemed to love the irony of two Barbies in the number. I will say, doing it in heels was an experience. It was just as fun and twice as magical. The audience joined in for a sing-a-long and it was the best way to end the night.

Being a part of my year’s student rep team, I can’t wait to have a hand in the joy we bring to people with the next two cabarets. I have been occupied with quite a lot of work this semester but I did not think I would get so addicted to the drive of being in one show after another. Yes, there is much to do for my modules but there is something about having rehearsals after a day’s worth of classes that is so cathartic. Our team already has so many ideas for what to do, and I can’t wait to write more about them from another perspective as organizer and hopefully performer!

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