This is the second year that Alden Voices, formerly known as the Women's Chorale, has put on a show like this. In this cabaret they will be singing selection pieces from "100 Years of Broadway," "Les Miserables" and "The Phantom of the Opera."
Dawn Varacchi, the musical director of JCS, and a member of Alden Voices invited Newspeak to a sneak preview of their act. In a small room in the basement of Alden Hall, the 26 members practiced the act. There, Francesca Escoto, '98, Fundraising Chair for Alden Voices, said that this Cabaret is going to be better than last year's. "The quality of the singers has improved a lot," she said also pointing out that they have more members now, making Alden Voices a more "diverse group of the female population at WPI."
According to her, they are doing more songs than last year and are confident about the turn out for their Cabaret. "This year we went with Alden, instead of Gompei's, so we could accommodate more people." She also feels that they are better organized this year and have last year's experience backing them up.
Wendy Manas, President of Alden Voices and one of the lead singers in JCS, comments that they have been practicing since February but the song selection and the planning started much before that.
One of the most impressive things about the group is its ability to sing as a group. Throughout the rehearsal, a few members arrived late and some left early but the quality of the sound was never affected by them. However, all the members will get their moment of glory. The whole act includes a lot of solos, choreography and some acting too. "The most difficult part was getting all the parts to work together," Manas said. During the rehearsals, they were still striving to get some parts right as well as brainstorming on how to improve the act. According to Manas, this was a total change of style regarding what they were doing before.
Manas also commented that overcoming obstacles have helped the group to come together. "We are communicating much better," Manas said. And they have to, because they are no longer standing and singing but on lines, sitting, marching, walking back and forth, crouching in the middle of the stage and slicing throats.
Heidi Callahan, '98, is extremely psyched about it. "I love it [the Cabaret]" she said with a smile. Dawn Ostenberg, '97, is also very excited about it. "[The thrill] is about getting an idea and putting it into action." They rehearse 3 times a week for about one hour and a half. "We had to put a lot of time into it," said Callahan and it definitely shows. Callahan also likes the idea of giving everybody a chance of demonstrating their talent with the solos, "everybody does what they are good at."
Although being the only male in the room could just about make any male's day, listening to them sing is a great experience, and even though the choreography was not yet in as excellent shape as the singing, the ideas for it were great and promising. During the rehearsal I understood better Ostenberg's reason for joining the group, "I couldn't stand watching their performance and not being part of it."
I will have to definitely agree with Heidi when she assured "the Cabaret is going to be great, spectacular." Only one question remains, is it going to be better than JCS? With the JCS musical director there and the talent of the entire group, I am sure it will be a close call.