The weekend before Thanksgiving saw a spectacular display of musical talent at the Off-Broadway On-Campus Fall Revue.
Held on Saturday, Nov. 23 in Upper Strong Auditorium for the first time, the revue brought a dazzling array of Broadway and off-Broadway hits to an enthralled UR audience, leaving lasting impressions on many. Titled “A New World,” the show had a whopping fifty-one cast members — the largest in OBOC’s history.
A delightful mix of the romantic, the whimsical and the out-and-out hilarious, the music seized the audience from the beginning and never let go.
“The first song blew me away!” sophomore Ethan McKenney said.
The first performance was “Merrily We Roll Along” from the musical of the same title. This was followed by “Always True to You In My Fashion,” from the hit Broadway show “Kiss Me, Kate!”
While all of the songs were well-performed, some of them simply stood out from the rest. Senior Matt Hall and senior Benjamin Schudel brought the house down with “All for the Best” from “Godspell,” while “The Lullabye of Broadway” from “42nd Street” was sung to a bewitched audience by senior Katie Moore and Take-5 scholar Susannah Klank.
The show ended with a wonderful rendition of “Do You Hear the People Sing?” featuring sophomore Holly Bender, OBOC Vice-President and senior Mike Axler and President and senior Angela Cucci.
The musical accompaniment easily matched the vocal performances — junior Jason Kay, sophomore Erika Rodger, Axler, senior Max Denler and junior Kary Haddad played the piano for various numbers, while sophomore Jeffrey Klein was the sole percussionist.
While the overall sentiment was that the performance was extremely good, there were a few minor criticisms.
“Overall, the show was enjoyable — but I was disappointed that they didn’t have more choreographed numbers,” freshman Patricia Tehan said.
Most audience members, however, did not share this feeling and were unstinting in their praise for OBOC. Freshmen Jeremy Boardman and Jessica DeSisto said that the performance left them “speechless.”
OBOC’s next performance will be in Todd Theatre’s “UR Performing,” a three-day “festival of River Campus performance groups” including In Between the Lines, D’ Motions, UR Bhangra, Strong Jugglers and the Ballet Performance group.
“UR Performing” will be taking place in the lobby of Todd Theatre on Dec. 5, 6 and 7. OBOC will be performing on Dec. 6.
If it’s anything like “A New World,” it will be an experience not to be missed.
