The seventh annual student-run cabaret was held in the Palace Theater on Friday, November 6. Seniors Jen Shelton, Meredith Clark, James Carino, Casey Konys and sophomore Colby Kingston directed the show. Titled “Heartbreak Cabaret,” the show gave special emphasis to sharing the pain of heartbreak with the viewers. 

The show included a live band that played through the entire 20-song set list, featuring familiar hits like “Forget You” by Cee Lo Green and “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele. The band starred senior James Carino and junior Michael Zeitler on the piano, senior Ben Fortganag on the guitar, sophomore Andrew Kolesar on the Bass and senior Ian Vannix playing the drums. 

The first song was a full cast rendition of “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles. With the lights in the Palace Theater dimmed, the singers emerged from among the audience to take their positions on the stage as they began to sing the first song. 

“I was thrilled with the show and the turn out. All of our cast members put a lot of work into making it a great show and they were all fantastic to work with,” Kingston said.

There was a huge crowd reaction when the timeless classic “Jesse’s Girl“ by Rick Springfield was performed by first-years Isaiah Keyes, Dan Miller, Drew O’Hara and David Zevallos. This upbeat rendition got the crowd prepared for what would be one of the best performances of the night, “Irreplaceable” by Beyonce performed by senior Meredith Clark and first-years Ashley de Hecharavarria and Molly Kantrowitz.

“I think I speak for all of the directors when I say that the turn-out was even better than we expected and it shows what a thriving arts community we have here at Colgate even if it doesn’t always seem that way at first glance,” Kingston said.

One of the most noteworthy performances of the night was “In Short” by Edges, performed by soloist senior Alanna Ticali. This quirky song with lyrics  “I wanna stick pins your eyes/I pray you get a rectal rash/I hope your visa’s declined/Your children are blind,” earned lots of laughs from the crowd. 

The show rounded out with a crowd-pleasing performance of the throwback hit “I Want It That Way” by The Backstreet Boys performed by senior Jungmin Kang, sophomore Mike Vassolas and first-years David Zevallos and Drew O’Hara.   

 The final song was a rendition of “You’ll Be in My Heart” by Phil Collins from the movie Tarzan. The full cast took part in the performance of the last song with special vocals from first-years Drew O’Hara and David Zevallos and sophomores Colby Kingston, Tyler Maxie and Lauren Pitzer.  

“Cabaret is always an amazing experience! It’s one of the only places on campus you can sing your heart out to musicals and pop songs. I really enjoyed it this semester because the cast was so close and so talented,” Maxie said.