Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Students to Host Virtual Cabaret: "Bring Me To Light"

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Junior Musical Ensemble of Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama will be hosting its annual Cabaret at 7 p.m. Sunday, November 22. This year, the audience can enjoy it right from the comfort of their space.

The Junior Musical Ensemble's Cabaret has always been a coveted ticket, filling up the CLO Cabaret Theatre in downtown Pittsburgh. With the shift to an online format, friends, family members and former teachers will have the chance to see this event. Not only will audience members be across the world, but so will the ensemble, with members performing from locales including Egypt, Hawaii, California and Pittsburgh.

The annual Cabaret gives music theater students the chance to work and perform with some of the industry's best songwriters. This year, the Cabaret will feature the music of Broadway composer Jeanine Tesori. A Tony and Olivier Award winner, as well as a Pulitzer Prize finalist, Tesori's catalog of music is diverse, spanning across Broadway, opera, film and television. She is one of the first female composers to be commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. Her work includes the musicals "Fun Home," "Thoroughly Modern Millie," "A Free Man of Color" and "Mother Courage." Her operas are "Blue; The Lion, The Unicorn and Me"; and the upcoming "Grounded." Tesori is the founding artistic director of New York City Center's Encores! Off-Center Series, as well as A Broader Way, an arts empowerment program for young women. She also serves as a lecturer at Yale.

Carnegie Mellon Professor Gary Kline has been teaching the class, "The Art of Cabaret," for years and he is proud of the current class for adapting to the virtual format.

"I am incredibly grateful to the student cast of this Cabaret for their perseverance and dedication to making this virtual performance a reality," Kline said. "It was, indeed, a new and challenging experience for all of us to figure out how to present this art form virtually, when it usually demands live performances with a present audience."

Megan Monaghan Rivas, interim head of the School of Drama, is delighted that the Cabaret can continue in a virtual format.

"The annual Junior Musical Ensemble has been a tradition here at the School of Drama since 2010, giving our students the opportunity to work with the industry's artistic leaders," Rivas said. "The cabaret is a personal highlight of my year. I am so pleased that this year our students' hard work can be shared with a wider audience in a way that is terrifically accessible."

All Cabaret proceeds benefit the school's Senior Showcase, an annual spring event where graduating students travel to New York and Los Angeles to present their work to industry professionals.

Attendees may register to view the Cabaret online by visiting https://www.drama.cmu.edu/cabaret/.  Admission is $10.00.

SOURCE Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama

Related Links

http://www.drama.cmu.edu