Arts

Abbot Cabaret 2010: Talent, Humor and Charity

Abbot Cabaret 2010 provided a lively splash of color on Andover/Exeter Weekend, amidst a whirlwind of activities and events. Eager students attended the show, which featured a variety of acts including the Yorkies, the Sprouts, Rockafella Acapella, Bass Pro Shop and many other talented artists and groups. “It was so cool!” said Dan Krichmar ’12, jumping up and down in excitement, a common response from the audience. Alasdair McClintic ’13 said, “It was great because of the diversity of the acts.” Eric Ouyang ’13, who had just returned from competing in the regional Science Bowl, said “I figured that attending Abbot Cabaret would be a nice way to ‘wind down.’” The show started off with emcees Billy Fowkes ’10 and B.J. Garry ’10. The two started the show by arguing about who was emceeing, and ended the show by “making up” and hugging. The first act was a poem written by Charlie Walters ’10 called “We Live in a World,” which mixed humor with deep issues that concern our world. Next was “Don’t Stop Believin’” featuring Kristina Rex ’11 and Ricky Marcotte ’11. Mike Ma ’10 and Mia Rossi ’10 had recently formed a new group, “the Rossis,” which performed the song “Wait for Sleep.” There was a brief interlude featuring Fowkes’ reading a comical poem about a relationship with a Facebook image. After raucous laughter from the audience, Kelvin Jackson ’10 sang an Irish hymn called “Ta Me Mo Shui.” Then the band “Four Corners” took the stage and played the song “Shuffle in G Major.” Afterwards, The Gateway Moment played an original song, followed by the Yorkies’ performance of “Teenage Wasteland/Baba O’Reilly,” featuring soloist Ricky Marcotte. David Lim ’12, a member of the Yorkies, said, “It was great to sing in the Abbot Cabaret. There is so much amazing talent…intensity and expression, it was quite impressive. Personally, I really liked the song because of the repetitive rhythms and cool dissonance and harmonies.” Patrick Brady ’11 said, “Our audience for the first show was noticeably lackluster, and I think it detracted from our performance. Our second audience, though, was excellent and really responsive, which is always a great thing.” Afterwards, Garry presented a hilarious movie that compiled interviews of many people on campus. Rockafella Acapella then sang “My Love,” followed by the group Good Night and Good Luck, which sang an original song called “Tonight.” The Sprouts then took the stage to sing “The Seed 2.0.” The final interlude featured the show hosts Fowkes and Garry, ending the event with the final two acts that included a showy display by “Eclipse,” the raver-group, dancing to the music “Blast the Speakers.” Bass Pro Shop ended the show with a bang, singing “Motorcycle Driveby,” and “Helter-Skelter.” “It was a great experience overall,” said Fowkes. “I emceed the show last year, but I definitely had even more fun this year. I read a funny poem during the show which I wrote myself, and I had never really done anything like that before, but it went over extremely well and the crowd seemed to love it, so I was extremely excited about that.” Matt Higgins ’10 and Dan Austin ’10 were the producers of this year’s Abbot Cabaret. Their goal was to top Grasshopper Night and raise money for Haiti. They faced a challenge when the venue, Kemper Auditorium, was booked for the night that Abbot Cabaret was scheduled. “We began making plans to hold it in the Smith Center but with inferior acoustics, much more wide open space, and a less intimate feel, we knew we had to delay the show and get the right venue,” says Austin. They received the option of holding Abbot Cabaret on Andover/Exeter weekend, and they went for it. They also managed to make their goals. Higgins said, “Overall, it was a great experience. It was a lot of work, but Dan and I had a lot of fun with the process and I think we put together a great show and raised a lot of money for Haiti. We had high expectations for the show from day one. After watching Grasshopper Night in October, Dan and I made it our goal to top it with Abbot Cabaret. I think we did that.”