This year’s Musical Theatre Dance Revue made its debut in the Magnuson Theatre on Friday evening. The revue showcased a slew of Gonzaga University dancers who performed musical theatre dance numbers.
The show featured 14 pieces with songs from 13 different musicals, including “The Lion King,” “Mamma Mia,” “High School Musical” and more. The dancers performed in multiple different numbers in the show and incorporated all kinds of dance styles throughout.
The revue was completely student-run. All of the choreography, backstage crew, lighting and sound was put together and presented by students. This year, the cast and crew tried to make their performance as close to a full musical number without singing. This meant including more acting elements into the dance.
“We put a lot of work into this, and we wanted to make it different from the years past by incorporating a lot more acting,” said Talia Frausto, a senior and choreographer. “So everyone was really excited to be able to try something different today.”
Although there was no singing in this show, the dancers’ acting skills were on display. In “Stick to the Status Quo” from “High School Musical,” the performers lip synced the words to create the illusion that they were singing.
Every number was unique in itself because students took creative liberties in choreographing each number to the dancers’ talents. Sophomore Caitlyn McKernan had the opportunity to choreograph a number and perform in several other dances.
“Choreographing was really tough, but it prepared me for the professional theater world to be both in the dance and also monitoring it,” McKernan said.
The show incorporated dancers that had years of experience and dancers that had never danced or been on stage before. This made for many of different dance styles and energies on stage.
“This was my first time dancing,” junior Nathaniel Mongan said. “My friends convinced me, and I was like, ‘Why not?’ As long as you are open-minded and want to dance, it is awesome.”
There was energy in the crowd as they clapped along to numbers like “Out of the Darkness” from “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.”
“Everyone was excited, a little nervous, but the crowd was getting more energetic as it was going on,” Mongan said. “Hearing their cheers just made us more pumped to be out there.”
The costumes on stage were vibrant and colorful, and the lighting changed throughout the dances to represent the tone of the number. In the performance from “The Great Gatsby,” the dancers wore glimmering green skirts that were reminiscent of the 1920s flapper era in which the musical was set.
Each dance utilized different skills and eras of dance, which reflected the evolution of different styles throughout the musicals.
“My favorite number was ‘Rich Man’s Frug,’” McKernan said. “It was just a lot of fun and felt like a really unique thing because it drew on a lot of Fosse elements.”
Some of the numbers included choreography like lifts, turns and acting skills. In “Grand Waltz” from “The Sound of Music,” the dancers showcased their ballet talents. In “Stronger” from “Finding Neverland,” there were lifts throughout the dance.
“If I was told to do this freshman year, it would not have looked the same as it did now,” Frausto said. “I’ve practiced and tried to make something out of what I learned.”
The final number, “Super Trouper” from “Mamma Mia,” showcased all the dancers in one number. Each choreographer came to the center of the stage and performed a solo before the final bow as the crowd clapped along to the music.
“The show was amazing,” said Claire Sladovnik, an audience member and GU student. “I love musicals, and I love dances. So, watching both of them combined was a great Friday night.”