(Sam Douglas / Fourth Estate)
Performers encompass wide range of emotions for 23 songs in annual concert
BY SAM DOUGLAS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Students from Mason’s School of Theater lit up Harris Theatre with their annual Mason Cabaret event, where they performed hits from composer William Finn.
While the performance showed off the skills of the student performers, it also honored the life of Finn, who passed away April 2025.
The performance included songs from eight different productions. The opening piece was the titular track of the 2006 musical “Mister, Make Me a Song.”
The 24 student-performers were the most in Mason Cabaret’s fourteen-year history, with the cast shining as an ensemble as well as in their solo performances.
The show included four songs from the musical “Falsettos,” telling the story of a family patriarch running off to be with a man and the impact it has on his family. Emotional dialogue was produced through music from the lens of the patriarch, his lover and his ex-wife.
The performers smoothly and seamlessly transitioned from emotional, heart-wrenching songs to raucous, foot-stomping beats such as “Joe Papp” from the musical “Elegies.”
Four consecutive numbers were performed from the musical “A New Brain,” which was inspired by medical complications Finn was going through at the time. The main character of the musical is diagnosed with a critical brain condition and deals with his fears of dying and being unable to fulfill his musical potential.
Another four songs were performed from “Putnam County Spelling Bee.” The performers put on stellar performances portraying the eccentric contestants and judges of a school spelling bee.
The performance ended with “The Last Goodbye” from “Putnam County Spelling Bee” and a curtain call.
“We believe musical theatre is at its most powerful when it allows itself to be messy, vulnerable and deeply human. Few writers embraced that truth as fully as composer and lyricist William Finn,” co-directors James and Erin Gardiner said in the performance’s program.
