What time is it? “In Norwegian standard time, it is time to rock,” exclaimed the band Lufhahmer during Abbot Cabaret 2006. This year’s Abbot Cabaret, the school wide talent show which took place in Kemper Auditorium last Saturday, attracted a mob of students with its singing, dancing, and acting performances. Jonathan Rivas ’06, John Gardner ’08 and Evan Hawk ’08 hosted the Cabaret and did a great job at involving the audience and introducing each act. The first act was a 20s style dance preformed by Mikaela Sanders ’08 and Jordan Dietsch ’06. “AbbCab was a ton of fun and very successful, despite being thrown together pretty quickly,” said Sanders. Their dance was a great show starter and got the audience excited for more. Next on the program was Drumline with leader Todd Kwao-Vovo ’06 on quads, Peter Kalmakis ’06 and Maria Leckarova ’06 on bass drums, James Rockas ’08 and Osei Wilks ’08 on snare drums, Sebastian Caliri ’08, Sean Beckett ’08, and Edwin Kulubya ’06 on trombone, and George Pratt ’06 on trumpet. The drummers marched down the center aisle and were soon accompanied by the horn players. In a sharp contrast to Drumline’s enlivening act, Jeff Cutts ’06 and Christa Vardaro ’06 took the stage and silenced the auditorium with their beautiful duet “Hear You Me” by Jimmy Eat World. The audience then cheered on the Yorkies rendition of “Every Morning” by Sugar Ray. The Yorkies, PA’s all male a cappella group, is headed by Jeff Cutts ’06 and Chris Li ’07. The songs were both enjoyable and interactive, as the audience was laughing and singing throughout the performance. Under the Bed, an improvisational comedy group, played games in which the audience was able to shape the outcome of the scene by suggesting words such as “trouser monster” and “Brangelina”. Members Wilks, Beckett, Rose duPont ’06, Emma Dorsey ’06, Nate Flagg ‘07, and Nico Hargreaves-Heald ’08 put on a great show and were able to include the audience in their performance. UTB also includes members Polly Sinclair ‘07 and Ben Lasman ‘06. Azure, the female a cappella group, was next up. Christa Vardaro ’06 and Dina Burkitbayeva ’06 are the co-presidents of the group which sang “Silent All These Years” by Tori Amos. The rendition of the song featured the full range of Vardaro’s voice. Desmond and the Space Band, took the stage next. Scotty Morgan ‘06 on guitar, Lasman on bass, Kalmakis on drums, and Desmond Bonhomme-Isaiah ‘06 with vocals gave an energetic performance of “Rock the House” and, despite a few technical difficulties during one show, played amazingly. “I really enjoyed Abbot Cabaret because it was a relaxed atmosphere, and the crowd was really enthusiastic. They were singing along with the acts and generally exuding a lot of energy,” said lead guitarist, Morgan. The other acts included an Indian dance performed by Nandini Vijayakumar ’06, Rashimi Bhat ’06 and Jonathan Rivas ’06, the beautiful Linda Eder song “Vienna” performed by Carrie St. Louis ’08, and a dance routine by the Pink Panthers. These acts all received a positive response from audience members, who appreciated the broad range of talent displayed over the course of the night. Katherine Adams ’06 showcased a new song, “No Worries.” As an encore, accompanied by cheering and shouting from the audience, went on to play the campus hit “He’s So Hot”. To conclude the show, the student band Lufhahmer performed the songs “Norwegian National Anthem” and “One Last Dance” (aka “Citizen’s Bank Theme Song”). The band includes Lasman on lead vocals and guitar, Morgan on lead guitar and vocals, Kalmakis on drums, and Matt Gaske ‘08 on bass. Since Gaske unfortunately wasn’t able to make the show, he was replaced by Nat Lavin ‘07. St. Louis remarked, “It was such a different experience because it was so low key but everyone worked together to put together a great show! Congrats to everyone in it. It was a blast!” Both those in the show and in the audience could agree with St. Louis. It was a blast.
