The Vocal Music Department held its production of “Broadway Rocks: Cabaret” on June 3 and 4 in collaboration with vocal music departments from Lakeside and Plaza Vista Middle Schools in the theater, featuring songs from musicals such as “Chicago” and “Cabaret.”

“I loved all the performances, but the group performances were the best,” senior Merry Wang said. “I liked how they organized the songs so that slow and fast songs would alternate, so there weren’t any slow periods or really fast, exhausting periods.”

“Broadway Rocks: Cabaret” consists of 26 songs and 42 solos, intermingling all the choir groups in the department. The show is, for the most part, a student-run production in which the students, at the beginning of the semester, prepare their own songs, staging, costume design and choreography.

“It is fun to see performers who started in the fall and how much everyone as a department has improved,” vocal music instructor Robert Blaney said. “I think for the parents, too, it’s their favorite concert.”

All of the performers’ improvements and talent definitely culminated into a spectacular production, taking parents and musical theater connoisseurs back to the classics of the past with junior Michael Mindiak’s spot-on encapsulation of the emcee’s flamboyance in “Cabaret.”

Lakeside and Plaza Vista Middle School music departments performed “Stay” by Mikky Ekko and Justin Parker and “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, and songs from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” respectively, showcasing their burgeoning musical talent with the encouragement from Blaney to join the vocal music department in the next stage of their academic careers.

Thursday night’s performance featured a final, and especially tear-jerking, performance by the department’s seniors, singing “Don’t Say Goodbye” from “Peter Pan.” Aferwards, Blaney recognized the seniors individually on stage and with a surprise twist; the seniors thanked and recognized Blaney, instructor Christine Lecce, and student teacher Dennis Frayne. 

“I loved singing with my seniors and I will miss them dearly,” junior Anupama Sridhar said. “I started crying during the senior song. I’m both sad [for them] to leave my school, but also excited to start a new chapter in my life.”