During the months of October and November, all of the choirs started the long journey that will ultimately lead to Thursday’s opening night performance of the musical theatre show “Cabaret.” Choir students practice their songs and choreography together in class and on weekends on the McCallum campus, including many rehearsals in the McCallum Performing Arts Center. The show will run from Nov. 30- Dec. 3, with evening performances Thursday through Saturday and a final matinee performance on Sunday. As it has in the past, the show will feature choreographed solo, duet and trio acts as well as one choreographed group number from each individual choir and two from the whole program. 

But this year’s show is also different in essential ways. And those differences begin at the top.

In recent years, the choir program at McCallum has seemed to be a lot like the Defense against the Dark Arts program in the Harry Potter novels. Just like the new term at Hogwarts always began with a new Dark Arts professor, the new term at Mac in recent years has begun with a new first-year choir director.

By all accounts, the arrival this year of the latest first-year director, Nathan Thompson will put an end to that revolving door. The upcoming 2023 cabaret promises to be a special edition of the event because Thompson has brought stability to the program and with it the time and structure necessary to enable student leaders the opportunity to perform at their best.

In previous years, the program relied on former choir director Malcolm Nelson to lead the show. If visual arts majors were to sculpt a Fine Arts Academy Mount Rushmore to immortalize impactful fine arts teachers, Nelson would be on the short list to be carved into the mountain, both for his long tenure as director and for the seemingly countless number of times he has returned to rescue Cabaret from peril. The show was delayed until the spring two years ago and last year Nelson was again summoned to save the show after the departure of the teacher who began the year as director.

One of the main student choreographers, senior Jaella Brush, credits Thompson with creating a culture that has improved the process leading up to this year’s Cabaret.  

“I think this year has been so different than previous years because of Mr. Thompson,” Brush said. “This is the first year that I am confident that we have a director with understanding who will skillfully lead choir for a long time to come and I think the security of having a strong director has helped build a foundation of trust in the program and in the show.” 

The enthusiasm for Thompson was on display at the choir fall concert last October, which ended with a standing ovation from a large, enthusiastic audience and wide smiles and a gift bouquet from the choir program assembled on the stage. Thompson reciprocated students’ trust by having choir students select the music and choreograph the numbers and also having student musicians perform the music to accompany them.

One noticeable difference this year is the modernity of the music in the show. While there will still be some older musicals represented in the solo and ensemble acts, most of the pieces this year are more contemporary than those in previous shows. This year’s program features more recent hit songs like “Since You’ve Been Gone” from Pitch Perfect and “Fabulous” from High School Musical.

In addition to a more modern flavor, the program for this year’s “Cabaret” also features musical numbers that offer an eclectic range of styles. The music repertoire in this year’s production will include group musical numbers from La La Land, Something Rotten and Hamilton, while the individual choirs will perform different pieces from Beauty and the Beast, Mean Girls and Hannah Montana.

The variety allows for the use of different types of choreography and collaboration between different fine arts programs. Thompson also said he hopes that the diversity of styles and songs will help connect the audience more. 

“I tried to pick a variety of things,” Thompson said. “I didn’t want everything to sound the same, so I’m hoping that the audience—everyone in the audience—walks away with one or two standout songs that they thought that really spoke to them.”

In addition to being modern and diverse, the choice of more familiar songs have made the rehearsal process smoother because the singers already know the songs and had a voice in selecting them for the show.

“Rehearsals in class have been going really well,” Brush said. “We have a lot of productive time spent on learning the dances and all the songs. It’s also been really cool to see everyone having fun with the choreography and enjoying the moves we created.”  

While rehearsals have been fun, there have also been some challenges. Brush said that choreography can be tricky, especially when trying to simultaneously deliver an outstanding vocal performance. Some moves also don’t work for everyone, but because the rehearsal process has evolved over a longer period of time, the student leaders have been able to aim from more challenging choreography. As a result, there are a lot of moving parts, Thompson said, including the student accompaniment portion of the show. 

Piano major Isabella Aleman Ward said that one song in particular in the production contains a big challenge.  Ward said that the integration of string instruments and piano in the number “A Musical” from Something Rotten is difficult to execute. 

“It’s going to be a bit more challenging because, for a musical, there is going to be some string instruments playing,” Ward said.

Despite the challenge, Ward thinks it will be fun for everyone to work together. 

“Overall, it’s just super fun because orchestra, choir and piano get to do some work together,” Ward said.  “Last year, for the pieces I was playing, it was only piano accompaniment, so it’ll be fun to work with everyone and make something great.”

Both Ward and Brush said that performing different music from last year creates new challenges both choreographically and musically. Many of them have already been overcome, and some of them are being ameliorated through practice. While the leaders are requiring hard work from the performers, they have also been careful to prioritize the health of the performers’ voices.  

Thompson advises that the best way to deal with these different challenges in a healthy way is to take it one step at a time and remain consistent.

 “A lot of it’s just taking it one day at a time,” Thompson said. “It can be tricky, but as long as I’m making progress and making sure I’m on top of everything, it happens.” 

And it will happen before a live audience for the first time on Thursday night in the MAC.