Muncie's Main Street Studio Theatre showed audiences something normally only experienced in the larger, urban settings of New York and Chicago nightclubs last weekend, Darrin Murrell, executive director for the show, said.
"The Great American Songbook Cabaret" will be performed again this weekend with shows at 8 p.m. May 24 and 25 and at 2 p.m. May 26.
The production is a musical review of popular jazz, radio and Broadway hits from the 1930s through the 1950s.
The unscripted performances were put together in two rehearsals with each performer picking five or six songs they already knew from the first half of the century.
The performances differ from previous big productions seen every few weeks in the theater such as "Seussical." The smaller, cabaret shows are an inexpensive way for the theater to increase funding for Muncie Civic and Studio theaters, Karen Bartling, one of the performers, said.
She described cabaret style as an intimate lounge environment with a live piano.
At the cabaret, performers sing more than 30 songs to an audience of around 40 seated at candlelit tables of four.
The songs in the performances are easily recognizable to audience members, Bartling said. She will sing, "Fly Me to the Moon," which was made popular by Frank Sinatra, and songs from major musicals.
Murrelll said the theater provides more than just entertainment, but an opportunity for people in the community to have a more enriched quality of life.
In addition to cabaret performances such as "The Great American Songbook Cabaret," the theater hosts what Murrell called "cutting-edge, alternative late night" performances directed toward a younger audience.
The next show for younger viewers is "Psycho Beach Party," which will be performed at 7:30 p.m. July 6 and 7 and 7:30 p.m. July 12-14. An additional performance will be at 2 p.m. on July 8.
Ball State University students appear in many of the theater's productions, and nine out of 45 cast members of the upcoming "State Fair" performance are students, Murrel said.
The university has an agreement with the theater allowing students to earn points for theater classes by working set construction and backstage crew, he said.
The theater also offers students federal work study and internship positions and is rounding up local talent for an upcoming production of "High School Musical," Bartling said.
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