Take eleven good-looking young people (six girls, five guys), all with good voices, all who can move well, mix with unbounded energy and professionalism and you have Live It Up!, a sure fire crowd pleaser—and it surely was.

In groups of twos, threes or singley, they entered and moved downstage to the eleven microphone stands that lined the front of the stage, singing “Moonglow” in the most wonderful harmony.  The strange thing is that the song had nothing to do with the rest of the show, but it sure was pretty and one of the highlights of the afternoon for me.  The rest of the first act gave each a chance to be introduced, first names only, and sing solo or in duos, trios and more. Eight songs, such as “Landslide,”  “No More Tears,” "Dream On,” followed each other.  Then a slim fellow with a light moustache and beard and a focused, strong voice did a beautiful “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”  His name is Pablo Siquieros and we discovered later that he could also croon and could really dance!  A standout.  The five guys then did the second highlight of the show, “Poison Ivy” and “Love Potion No. 9” to clever and energetic choreography – a really fun number!  The last song of the first act kind of petered out until there was just one guy onstage messing with a mic in a stand.  Whether planned or ad-libbed, he looked up and said, “That’s the end of the first act.” (It hadn’t seemed like it.)  “We’ll see you after intermission.”  The house lights came on and we had been dismissed.

The second act (the Broadway part) opened with, of course “On Broadway” and segued nicely into Little Shop of Horrors (no, no “Suddenly Seymor!”), then a bit of Phantom, Brooklyn, Jersey Boys, The Color Purple and Les Miz followed and – whammo - the third highlight of the afternoon and the best—so good it probably should have been the closing number.  Gina Arreola knocked out “All that Jazz” both singing and dancing, accompanied by the other ten singing and dancing Fosse-like choreography.  What a number!  They closed with a medley from Wicked.  Beside the two mentioned above, the cast included Joshua Evans, Lucas Stanczak, Morgan Anderson, Jacob Samples, Brenna Aumaier, Jennifer Singer, Tricia Ridgeway, Azhis Velasquez and Keri Adams.

I think a bit more variety as in the highlight numbers would have paced it better.  Those eight songs together in the first act needed breaking up as they began to sound like one long song.  In the second act, the Brooklyn songs sort of blended into Jersey Boys and the Color Purple song oozed into Les Miz.  But “All That Jazz” really stirred things up and the high energy of the cast did help keep the show moving along.  The audience loved the it and whistled and cheered.

Jack Moore
Cabaret Scenes
September 27, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org