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Nourse Theater was half filled Thursday night as students, myself included, took a refreshing break from their final plug to finish the week’s homework to watch the cabaret style, student produced show, Everything Goes. Everything Goes, directed by sophomore Bomi Johnson, is a program of thirteen numbers from nine different musicals. The final performance of Everything Goes will be on Saturday, October 24th at 9:30 pm in Little Nourse Theater.
The first major highlight of Everything Goes, its choreography, was excellent from the first energized, cartwheel-filled number, “Make ‘em Laugh” from Singing in the Rain. The choreography was consistently strong throughout the show and culminated with tap dancing in the final number, “Anything Goes”. I thought the program maintained a good balance between serious and comical repertoire, perhaps leaning more towards the latter. I found myself laughing audibly on multiple occasions. Cabaret style shows are notorious for the small eternities that ensue between each number. Everything Goes refuted this stereotype and had an impressive turnover time between songs, although emcee Clara Livingston may disagree.
Another notable feature of Everything Goes was its cleverly atypical portrayal of the material it presented. I think that Everything Goes’ version of “Bitch of Living” was wonderfully arranged despite having only three vocalists, significantly less than the much thicker ensemble in the original show. Another creative liberty was the representation of Oliver as three different performers, all female. The role of Newsies’s Jack Kelly was also sung successfully by a woman.
Although the vocals were strong as a whole, they were not perfect by any means. Without microphones, the vocals were sometimes overwhelmed by accompanying music, which I found too loud. I thought I could detect opening night jitters in multiple performances, an issue that will probably be resolved come Saturday night’s show. The emcee’s characteristic honest, deadpan comedy effectively entertained between numbers, however, I found it occasionally underprepared.
One final critique of the show is that it is overwhelmingly Oliver. Numbers from Oliver make up almost a quarter of the set list. Everything Goes also features multiple songs from Spring Awakening (don’t get me wrong, I was absolutely delighted that one of my favorite shows was featured) and Chicago, at the expense of including a more extensive range of musicals. That said, hearing songs from Newsies and Book of Mormon made me yearn to hear “Santa Fe” and “Hasa Diga”, which I would love to see this cast perform.
I found “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors the best group performance of the night. Sam Vinitsky, playing Seymore, and Willa Gruver, playing Audrey, both did a phenomenal job of conveying their characters within the one brief song they performed. In my opinion, Vinitsky and Gruver, were the night’s best male and female vocalists, respectively.
Vinitsky stole the show for me with his combination of vocals, expression, general presence, and humor. His performance of “I Believe” from The Book of Mormon was my favorite part of the program, and I think many of my fellow audience members would agree. The performance of “Who Will Buy” from Oliver also gave me chills.
Finally, I commend Bomi Johnson not only for her efforts in arranging and directing the show but also for bravely covering the parts of an actress who fell ill shortly before the show.
Overall, the positives of Everything Goes outweigh the minor negatives. Everything Goes is definitely worth going to.