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Theatre at the Mount presents: Cabernet

The highlight of the MC drama department’s yearly performances is the annual Spring musical. On this year’s opening night of Cabaret, a risque selection to say the least, attendees showed up in never before seen numbers. Parents feverishly clamored outside of the PAC doors, bundled up against the cold. Strangely enough, the parents this year did not come clad with armfuls of star showgrams and brimming bouquets. Instead, bags were replaced with coolers and brown paper bags.

“Well, I didn’t have my reading glasses on, and I read the flyer as ‘Cabernet,’” parent Sam Paine said. “I thought it was strange for a school event, but I decided, ‘risqué production calls for an equally risqué audience, no?’”

Along with Paine, many parents were up in arms about the show’s subject, especially the provocative makeup and costume that accompanies it.

“How can I bear to see my child in fishnet tights and lace sober? To that I told my friend Sherry, ‘Hand me the Pinot Grigio,’” parent Sahard O’Nay said.

Some parents distort the original
“Cabaret” starring Liza Minnelli
as such | Photo courtesy of Playbill

While many parents tut-tutted and shook their heads in shame about the actual production, for some, this was a tried-and-true routine.

“If you think I get through every school event my ex-wife makes me go to sober, think again,” parent Mal Beck said. “I love my daughter to bits and pieces, but sitting through what seems like the fourth time she’s been a Pink Lady in Grease sometimes gets on you.”

As the clock nears seven, doting parents shuffle into the theatre, their ‘friends’ tucked in their bags sheepishly— but some have taken the matter up in arms in protest. Outside the theatre, a small entourage of parents marched in the parking lot to protest the alcoholic advertisement.

“The arts as a whole has always supported this wild promiscuity, but I simply cannot condemn this lewd behavior at my child’s school,” mother Abby Stinece said. “I thought last year’s musical production of Les Mis was too much, what with its prostitution and ample use of rouge on every players’ cheeks. But this tops it off, advertising for a wine.”

Parents have taken on their own interpretation to Cabaret, either in celebration or contempt. The ones taking on this non-school supported trend have become wild theatre enthusiasts, stopping by the PAC sometimes three times a week. A wine listing can now be found under each seat in the theatre, pairing each act with either a dry white, a deep and fruity red, or a bubbly rosé. Nonetheless, the students’ hard work and dedication to their craft can be seen, perhaps better without the wine glass.

Written by Francesca Hodges

Francesca is a senior and currently a photographer and a Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Sun. She enjoys studying astronomy and watching period pieces. At MC, she is involved in Peer Counseling, Friendship Club, and the field hockey team. In the future she plans on attending UC Berkeley to major in Global Studies.

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