The MU Players announce their fall cabaret, with the theme of Disney Classics.
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By Barbara Vasquez, Asst. Production Editor
Manhattan University’s Players channeled their inner magic as they announced the enchanting news that this year’s cabaret theme will be centered around Disney classics.
Olivia Bailey, director of this year’s fall cabaret and producer for Players, shared that the theme was picked after deliberation within the group. Ultimately, the theme was chosen due to many Players’ desire to perform Disney songs, as well as the popularity that Disney holds.
“We had a lot of Disney cabarets pitched this year, so it was obviously something people wanted to do,” Bailey said. “As a board, we want to recruit more people, not only to be in the club but to see our productions, and this theme will help with that.”
The assistant directors for this year’s cabaret, sophomores Marissa Goodwin and Malcolm Naughton, shared their excitement for being chosen to help put this performance together.
“Being in Players last year I got to work with a bunch of really fun and nice people,” Naughton said. “By being assistant director, I’m basically just getting another chance to work with those people, but I get to be a little more creative in what I’m doing. It’s not a huge difference, but it’s something I’m really looking forward to, especially since my dad was my director throughout high school. I’m trying to do what he did.”
For Goodwin, being a part of Players has allowed her to understand a part of her life after her eventual graduation from MU.
“I enjoy theater so much to the point where I do want to continue it at some point in my life,” Goodwin said. “I feel like [the cabaret] is going to be so good because we have so many talented people, and everyone’s just so amazing, nice and fun. It’s definitely going to be a good experience for me directing and whatnot, but also being around people I love all day.”
Bailey hopes that this theme especially will work to draw in some new faces and talent to the club.
“We want freshmen; we want them to start early so they stay in the club, and we want to see people succeed,” Bailey said. “I think the cabaret is such an icebreaker for people, since it’s a lot of people’s first show.”
Coincidentally, both of the assistant directors’ first experiences were with the Players’ “Phineas and Ferb” cabaret from last year, after which they acted together in the spring 2024 musical, DogFight.
“Last year I made so many friends, specifically during cabaret,” Goodwin said. “When Dogfight started, it was easier since I had those friends. Everything kind of transferred over.”
The Disney theme is building up to take a more mature turn compared to last year’s fall cabaret theme of Phineas and Ferb. Bailey, who was an assistant director for Phineas and Ferb, compared the two in regards to what her directing style is going to be.
“Now that I’m in a higher position, and Phineas and Ferb was more of a fun thing to do– we weren’t necessarily looking to get more people,” Bailey said. “[This year] I’m going to be a bit more strict about the vision. Disney is such an easy thing to mess up if you do it wrong, and we’re doing an ‘old Hollywood’ theme, which is very glamorous. We have loads of talent, and I’m going to expect a lot from people.”
Continuing with the changes from last year’s performance, there will seemingly be more non-vocal performances included in this year’s show, including dancing which was listed as an audition option on the Players Instagram.
“I think it’s important to also have the visual aspect along with the singing, because cabaret is one of the things we do that has no acting,” Bailey said. “People want to be entertained, they want to have something to look at, so I would like to have some big tap number or some jazz number.”
While a lower budget may make it harder to buy certain scripts or create certain sets, the Players’ year has started on a high note and they’re hoping to continue running with it.
“We have the people anyways,” Naughton said. “You can’t buy the talent at Manhattan [University]. They’re here to perform, and they’re good enough to do that– what does it matter if it’s with a big set or small set?”