Need some positivity as finals week approaches? Geneseo’s Musical Theatre Club will be opening its biannual revue show, “Big Top MTC,” on Friday Dec. 2. Each semester, MTC gathers together some of their favorite numbers around a single theme. This year, they’re taking Geneseo to the circus. Past semesters have seen such themes as superheroes or revolutions, but this year’s “Big Top” theme is sure to please. Students should not only be prepared for crazy costumes and characters when seeing the performance—they should also be prepared to laugh.
Since the show is a revue, the audience will be treated to musical numbers from a variety of popular shows including “Hamilton,” “Legally Blonde,” “Something Rotten” and High School Musical. But don’t expect them to sound like the old show tunes you’ve heard countless times before, as MTC has hidden a few tricks up their sleeves to give the show some Geneseo flare. (Picture the cast of “Legally Blonde” hanging out at the Statesman.)
Some of these tunes are also used to introduce the audience to members of the group. All the students who joined the club this fall—who have dubbed themselves as “The Flash”—will perform the “New Kid Song.” Additionally, the entire group will perform the opening number, called “Welcome to Wonderland,” which pokes fun at the alumni who are sure to be sitting in the front row. In addition to song and dance, there will also be short, humorous skits interspersed between numbers in order to break up the evening.
While it seems to be all fun and games on stage, there’s also an incredible amount of hard work that goes into these shows. Students spend many weekend mornings rehearsing; during the final week of rehearsal, the students sometimes don’t leave Wadsworth Auditorium until after 1 a.m. But for these students, it hardly seems like work. MTC isn’t just a club—it’s a community for its members.
“It’s not so much rehearsing as it is, to me just being with my friends,” MTC member and musical theater and communication double major sophomore Erin Burris said.
But more than just a social outlet, MTC is also a team that encourages everyone to shine and to grow together by doing what they love.
“It’s a very ensemble-driven show,” Burris said, “and that kind of humbles me, and I think [it] humbles everyone because we’re all working [together] ... we’re all featured in our own ways. We’re all shining, but we’re all shining together.”
There is a place for everyone in MTC, whether or not you’re a musical theater major like Burris and others. The club welcomes many different types of students, such as education majors, English majors and even physics and math majors. MTC is a unifying force among students, according to biology major junior Yvette May.
“This one thing brings us all together,” May said.
This club and all of its performances are entirely student run. Consequently, cast members really get to experience first-hand all the components that go into putting on a spectacular show.
“Big Top MTC” has two shows: one will be on Friday Dec. 2 and another on Saturday Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. It’s sure to revive and to delight any tired brain. And who knows, you may spot the guy in your science class or the quiet girl in the library dancing in a kick line and singing their hearts out.