On May 6th, Hunterdon Central brought back the Devil’s Cabaret, a complex production that demonstrates a multitude of diverse talents of the students at Central. After a three year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the return of the Cabaret brought a renewed sense of community back to Central. However, despite the show only being one night only, lots of preparation and organization went into the performance beforehand to make it as grand as it deserved to be.

“Everyone seemed to really enjoy being there and participating in it,” said Alexei Greene, performing both with Mel Watson in “The Violinist” act and in his own stand up routine. For the past few months, he’s been getting his stand-up ready: “I’d come up with a joke or two every couple of days, and frequently check news websites for any current events I could joke about.” And for his performance with Mel, “We each practiced our own parts and developed them, then put them together and it worked out.” These acts were not thrown together at the last minute, but took time to perfect. This sets Central’s Cabaret apart from other talent shows because the participants really care about their performance.

Working in a group on an act brought on a whole new level of dedication and effort. However, the band The Leftovers sees this collaboration as more of an opportunity than a challenge: “Performing is always a thrill, especially in front of a big crowd like that. As a band, we haven’t performed live together as frequently as we would have liked, but it’s definitely really fun. Cabaret is a fantastic event with so much talent and being a part of it was amazing. Truly a great experience,” says one member. They’re currently preparing for their performance at the Sound of Summer concert on June 4th at Marion Clawson Park in East Amwell. 

Besides for the individual performers, much effort was put behind the scenes as well. “There were a lot of things that needed mics, and there was a lot of choreography with how things needed to move on and off the stage,” said Colton Sheaf, who performed an original song. Raina Shroff, who managed the show, expanded on that: “While backstage, we made notes for acts, went through mic and tech notes, planned when to put pianos, seats, and stands onstage and helped prepare our talented classmates before they went onstage,” all of which was completed during the last week of the show.

The lighting, done by Andrew Lombardo, was also prepared during the last week of the show. He had to talk to each person, and figure out what worked best for each show. ANdrew comments that, “Talking to the people in the show and collaborating with them was the most interesting part of the show. Taking what they and I saw, and making it a reality was an extremely fun and creative project.”

The core of the show, however, were the bits that brought the show together, performed by M.C. Eric Tiber, Glaks Vega, Will Barnes, and a few special appearance of Mr. Klein, who ran the sound for the show. Asking Eric about writing those parts of the show, he said, “It all actually became very easy because of who I was working with. Will and Glaks had a lot of great ideas already, so we all kinda put our own little spice into it in order to mold it into a cohesive story that everyone could enjoy.” 

“It’s really just a combination of individual talents,” Eric said. “Everyone has their own act under their own direction and how the show just puts it all together.” And that showed through the variety in the show. From dancing, piano, comedy and several different genres and performances, the show became a display of the students and culture of Central.