Last Thursday, Mer took me on another mid-week date. This one was to a small theater at the University of Akron, where the Music and Dance Departments teamed up to put on a cabaret musical review. Normally, Mer and I are not too crazy about musical reviews, but this one was not trying to pretend to be a theatrical story; they covered love songs (including break-up songs), and kept the evening lighthearted, so we were both quite charmed by the performances. In addition, one of CVCA’s former students was a major singer for the evening, and it was grand fun to get to hear him sing again. As a final bonus, one of my former Fools and one of Mer’s favorite students, Mary, came to the show, so we were able to sit with her and get caught up on her life.

The show lasted about ninety minutes, not counting an intermission, and it was fun to see the mixture of songs and dances. There was a piano player providing the music (and he was really good – I forget how good even an undergraduate can be), eight male and female singers, and six female dancers. The singers did some dancing and the dancers did some singing as well. I had forgotten how fun it is to see an informal college show – there were cheers from the audience from time to time, and some of the lyrics to some of the songs were tweaked to include names of friends. While I did not understand the inside jokes, it was still a festive atmosphere. I’m glad Mer took me to the show – it is a good reminder that we need to take more advantage of the three major colleges in our area (Akron, Kent, and Malone).