Feature: Baldwinsville Theatre Guild Presents an Evening of Disney Fun with BE OUR GUEST: A DISNEY CABARET

What better way to bring the Baldwinsville Theatre Guild's season to a close than with an evening of Disney classics. The delightful cabaret took place for a one night only performance at the lovely and cozy Mohegan Manor, a restaurant and banquet event facility in the heart of Baldwinsville, New York. Colin Keating (director) and Erin Sills (Assistant Director) brought a dynamic cast together to showcase some familiar and favorite Disney songs.

The heart, hardwork, and devotion community theatre performers, band members, set designers, and so on put into productions are very under appreciated. Those involved in community theater certainly do not do it for the money, it is all volunteer. They are involved in theater because they love it. This cabaret is a perfect example of the heart and pure joy that exists in community theater as performers come together to create a magical evening that leaves an audience smiling.

From the moment cocktail hour began, the energy in the room was pure magic. The performers were mingling with the audience members consisting of lots of friends and family awaiting to hear a night of Disney songs.

The anticipation and excitement that existed as the audience took their seats was wonderful to see. The cast featured the talents of Christy Ashby, Jordan Ashley, Jackie Bleich, Gary Carpentier, Alex Cupelo, Maggie Dougherty, Katie Grabowski, Ben Sills, Erin Sills, Cameron Walker, and Ceara Windhausen. The cast consisted of many familiar faces that are often spotted throughout many community theaters in the Central New York area along with some new performers.

The performers certainly brought the Disney fun and magic as they showed off their skills and spunk in their musical numbers. The band for the Cabaret featured Justin Ezzo, Colin Keating, and Bill Mercer with sound design by Sean Connolly.

The entire cast opened the Cabaret dressed to impress for the title number, Beauty and the Beast's "Be Our Guest." The rest of the show featured mostly solo numbers and duets as the cast brought Disney Princesses, villains, and other favorite characters to life with performances they all should be proud of.

Act I featured Erin Sills delivering an enchanting performance as she sang "Beauty and the Beast." Ben Sills and Jordan Ashley brought an entertaining and energetic performance of "Bare Necessities." Katie Grabowski and Jackie Bleich delivered a lovely performance of "Someday My Prince Will Come." Christy Ashby charmed with umbrella and all as she showed off in "Spoonful of Sugar." Maggie Dougherty's sassy vocal skills took center stage in "Almost There." Gary Carpentier brought the charm as he dressed as everyone's favorite cowboy toy and sang "You've Got a Friend in Me." Ceara Windhausen and Cameron Walker entertained with full force as they performed "Love is an Open Door." Alex Cupelo brought a swingin' performance of "Cruella DeVille." The first act ended with everyone's favorite "Under the Sea" from Little Mermaid featuring the entire cast having a blast on stage and all around the audience.

Act II then featured Ben Sills and Erin Sills singing and charming the audience with the classic and beautiful "When You Wish Upon a Star." Maggie Dougherty and Gary Carpentier sang a heartwarming rendition of "A Whole New World." Ceara Windhausen brought down the house with her passionate and moving performance of "Colors of the Wind." Jackie Bleich sang a gorgeous rendition of "Part of Your World." Cameron Walker brought a powerful performance as he sang "Out There." Jordan Ashley showed off his vocal skills in the sentimental number "Remember Me." Christy Ashby and Alex Cupelo brought the Tangled hit duet "I See The Light" to life. Ben Sills charmed the audience as he sang the old classic "Lavender Blue." Katie Grabowski brought a passionate performance as she sang "How Far I'll Go." The Cabaret ended with a bang with the Newsies number "Seize the Day" featuring the powerful voices of the entire cast.

Disney music, talented performers, a thriving and dynamic theater community supporting each other - sign me up! A laid-back cabaret performance such as this made it the perfect family friendly night out. My children (5 and 7) thoroughly enjoyed hearing their favorite Disney songs and seeing the fun performances on stage. My son is still saying that he wants to sing on stage like Woody (Gary Carpentier's performance). My daughter absolutely adored Ceara Windhausen's "Colors of the Wind" and "Love is and Open Door."

This was the first Cabaret presented by Baldwinsville Theatre Guild that I have attended and I certainly don't want to miss the next one (I regret missing the others). The atmosphere, the energy, the talents made this just a plain good fun evening.

Running Time: Approximately 90 minutes with one intermission.

Baldwinsville Theatre Guild's BE OUR GUEST: A DISNEY CABARET was a one night only performance on November 9, 2019 at the Mohegan Manor in Baldwinsville, New York. For tickets and information on the Baldwinsville Theatre Guild click here. For information on the Baldwinsville restaurant and banquet event facility Mohegan Manor click here.

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