Curtain Call: Lynchburg's Cabaret

Ellee Evans poses one more time after the curtain has closed. March 17, 2018

Hanna McWilliams and Sydnee Smith have some fun now that the work is done. McWilliams played a role in Only Us and the ensemble songs, and Smith acted as one of the Schuyler sisters from Hamilton. March 17, 2018

Hanna McWilliams and Evan Gough after performing the song Only Us from the musical Dear Evan Hansen. March 17, 2018

Jordan Champe looking proud! He sang in numbers such as Sincerely Me and Waving Through a Window from Dear Evan Hansen. March 17, 2018

Brooke Bosiger poses for a picture after the performance. She was also one of the Schuyler sisters, and sang the song She Used to Be Mine from the musical Waitress. March 17, 2018

Addy Weaver received flowers after Saturday night's performance. She played the third Schuyler sister, and performed Everything Changes from Waitress along with the ensemble numbers. March 17, 2018

Chris Young had the audience laughing with his rendition of You'll be Back from Hamilton. Here we see him in full kingly attire. March 17, 2018

Here we see Brooke Bosiger outside the theatre, though she's been involved in productions since her freshman year of high school. March 19, 2018

Dana Ballard was the musical director for Curtain Call. Here we see her sitting pretty inside Snidow Chapel. March 19, 2018

Loretta Wittman was the director for Curtain Call! Here find her in her office, holding two of the props used from one of the scenes in Waitress. March 19, 2018

Curtain Call, performed by Lynchburg students, held performances in Dillard Theater March 16-18 of 2018, directed by Loretta Wittman.

Curtain Call (also known as Behind the Curtain Cabaret) is a cabaret performance utilizing songs from several popular musicals, including Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton, La La Land, and Waitress. Sixteen performers not only signed up, but were all talented, something Musical Director Dana Ballard said was a "kind of a surprise." As both Ballard and Wittman noted, this was double the students they were expecting.

This was the department's first time performing Curtain Call, where Whitman and Ballard chose a selection of songs from the four musicals due to their recentness, as well as the fondness their performers had for the songs.

There were two auditions. In the spring, Ballard and Whitman recruited the first ten students. The other six joined the production that fall. Two students will be graduating this year, leaving room for future actors to join the production.

On the performances, Dana Ballard said, "We wanted to give the students a chance to perform songs that aren't even available to perform the whole show - the rights aren't available - but they're the shows that have come out just in the last few years, and it's the ones that everybody young knows and really likes these shows, especially Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen."

Wittman explained that it would take a long time for certain productions to be legally performed without paying royalties, such as Phantom of the Opera and The Lion King. Curtain Call however provided the performers with the ability to perform such highly sought-after music while also providing audience members a chance to explore several genres of musical.

Whitman and Ballard both expressed pride for the performers in Curtain Call. Wittman said, “It is allowing me to introduce them to songs they don’t know. To help them grow in learning how to do a piece… It takes a period of time for a song to get in your body and be your voice and become what it becomes… For me it is getting an opportunity to work with them and watch them grow, to watch them get up there and do what they did on stage. And each one of them has something special and unique about them.”

With the success of Curtain Call, the department could have the ability to perform the cabaret annually.

#Writing #MediaWriting #news #photography #school #Students #Lynchburg #College #Journalism #University #of