Talent and song will once again return to the halls of Chagrin Falls High School at the Choir Cabaret, held on October 16 at 7pm. 

Tickets will be $12 as this event serves as a fundraiser for the choir’s end-of-the-year trip to Disney World. Choir students missed out on a trip to New York last year due to COVID. 

“It was really disappointing, it was something I had been looking forward to since middle school,” said  junior Ryan Hill, a choir member. 

This is the first live concert at CFHS since February 2020.  All choir students will be performing songs, from duets to solos, with some performing original songs. Students have been practicing over the last month in and outside of class, putting so much work into their eventual return to the stage. 

 “I’m excited. I think it’s going to be a good show and I think no matter what, everybody will have a good time performing live, we haven’t been able to do that for a while,” said Hill

Over the last year during choir performances, students had to work through a virtual environment to perform. On top of the stressful and new environment of a virtual learning landscape, students who thrived in front of audiences and with roaring crowds were left performing virtually in front of a blank screen. 

“Everyone would record separately if they were virtual or recording if they were in person and then send it to an online link,” recounted Hill. 

The recordings would be compiled into a video performance, as performers at all levels were doing at the height of the pandemic.  A far cry from the real magic of the stage. But the performers are excited to bring it back to life. 

“I think this way everyone will be able to get a more authentic performance, but also one that feels it’ll bring back the group dynamic of Cabaret,” Hill continued. 

The show will include performances that the CFHS audience should look forward to enjoying, and that every choir member has been perfecting. But some miss the ease of the virtual performance. 

“Virtual performances were very different for me, because recording by ourselves as opposed to together was very difficult.” said junior Ava Kane, another choir member.

 “I miss the feeling of live performances,” Kane continued.

 That live feeling will be as present as ever as audiences file back into the blackbox theater. Students chose songs that would showcase their talents to the fullest, with popular music and broadway songs leading the way. “I wanted to choose a song that would be fun to perform and that my brother Nathan and I could do together,” Ryan Hill added, like him, many other students are choosing songs that will create an exciting environment at the performance. The energy will be like no other, and Chagrin students should look forward to it. 

“My brother Nathan Hill and I will be performing a duet of Agony from Into the Woods, and we’re excited to return to the stage,” Hill added.