The performing arts students at Algonquin wowed the crowd with their original songs and their raunchy humour on March 8.
Music Vill, a musical written by students is about a young man named Danny, played by Kyle Iveglia, and his search for a new beginning. He meets Jenny, an optimistic girl who loves to sing is played by Adia Buckle. Danny strikes Jenny’s interest immediately which causes problems with Jenny’s overprotective boyfriend.
The hour-long play is filled with laughs and tear-jerking moments such as when Iveglia’s character serenades his leading lady with an original song.
“My classmates and I are all super into musical theatre and we’ve never really done a piece like that.” Buckle said. “Getting the rights for a show would cost a lot of money that we don’t have so we came up with the idea to write our own.
The show took three weeks to make including writing, directing and performing it all. The students worked tirelessly and really gave it their all despite the tight deadline.
The second portion of the show was a parody on Saturday Night Live called Thursday Night Live which was written and directed by Sean McCloskey. He also took part in the performance, acting in a lot of the skits. McCloskey’s humour was a crowd favourite, and his natural charisma and phenomenal acting skills made him stand out from the crowd.
“I kind of just stumbled into it. We were just in class and I kept coming up with ideas and the next thing you know everyone was looking at me. The next day I woke up and I was the director.” he said.
The live segment included many laugh-worthy and borderline offensive skits including one about the KKK and even one poking fun at Donald Trump. The crowd laughed along and didn’t seem to mind considering the jokes were harmless in nature.
The coordinator of the performing arts program, Catherine Kenney, was there to lend a helping hand and offer kind words to her students on the night of the show.
“It’s not about me,” she insisted. “I’m so privileged; what more could you ask for than to work with artists and writers? You are the people who form society.”
The live band jammed out in between skits, adding a authentic feel to the SNL parody.
The show ended and the cast took a final bow, with everyone dancing on stage, and joy evident on their faces. Kenney spoke to the crowd once everyone had gotten the chance to calm down, announcing that the crowd would be grading the students as this was secretly part of their midterm. The cast, clearly shocked laughed it out and continued celebrating the end of the show.
The performing arts students are a group of passionate and talented stars in the making, make sure to keep an eye out for their next show on March 29.
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