DHCT's Romantical Musical Revue performers from Dearborn High School include: Westley Montgomery (left), Camille Charara, Miranda Fothergill, Vicky Johnson, Bella Fothergill, Katie Polidori, Mary Charara, and Yu Chi.
PHOTOS by: Cynthia Frabutt
Joe Gaber, Kira Frabotta, and Dylan Frabutt smile for the camera after the show.
A Very Romantical Musical Revue Emcees and performers: Leah Paige Cooley and Phil Booth.
By Sue Suchyta
The Dearborn Heights Civic Theatre will continue to set the stage for romance Saturday, Feb. 18, the second day of its musical fundraiser “A Romantical Musical Revue.”
BROADWAY BOUND?
The love song show, which opened Friday, features both high school and adult performers singing romantic ballads from Broadway musicals.
BERWYN BALLADS
The show is staged at the Berwyn Center, 26155 Richardson in Dearborn Heights. Admission is $10, with cabaret-style seating.
BOOTH AND COOLEY SET THE PACE
Phil Booth and Leah Paige Cooley share the emcee duties and their musical talents as well.
PLAY “WHAT’S MY SONG?”
Part of the fun is listening to the beginning of a song and recognizing the musical it’s from.
FALZON, FOTHERFILL AND CHARARA
The show begins with Michael Falzon singing “She Loves Me” followed by Miranda Fothergill and Mary Charara singing “You’re Just in Love.”
RIPPER FLIRTS AND WORKS THE HOUSE
Annette Ripper sings “Embraceable You” while flirting with some of the men seated at the cabaret style tables, which livens things up a bit.
DEARBORN DEBS
The young ladies from the Dearborn High School drama department then lent their energy and enthusiasm to familiar show tune favorites.
WICKED, GOOD, LES MIZ AND PRETTY
Katie Pollidori and Victoria Johnson sing “For Good” from “Wicked;” sisters Miranda and Bella Fothergill sing “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Miz,” and the Mary Charara leads a group of the teen girls in “I Feel Pretty” from “West Side Story.”
A MUSICAL TRAILER
Leah Cooley then raised the bar with her wonderful belting voice and commanding performance of “Make like a Nail” from “The Great American Trailer Park Musical.” Her costume – a colorful kimono, fuzzy slippers, and her props – a dangling cigarette, a swaddled baby and a lawn chair with a beer bottle in the cup holder – set the scene with self-deprecating humor.
FRABOTTA TOPS THE KING
Kira Frabotta follows with a version of “Can’t Help Falling In Love with You” that is so different from the iconic Elvis Presley tune that one doesn’t even bother with mental comparisons – it’s much more pleasant to just let her mellow voice float in the air and wrap itself around your conscious mind. She is an incredible singer, and listening to her perform is worth the price of admission alone.
GREEN WITH ENVY
Annette Ripper follows with a sweet and sentimental version of “Somewhere That’s Green” from “Little Shop of Horrors.” The song is Audrey’s wistful dream of everything that Madison Avenue tried to force feed to post-war Americans during the fifties, from tract homes in the suburbs to TV dinners in front of an enormous 12-inch screen.
SONGBIRD
Leah Paige Cooley closes the act with the little known but beautifully sung “Meadowlark” from the seldom performed show “The Baker’s Wife.” Her beautiful voice brings the first act to a classy close.
GIMME MORE, MAMA
The second act opens with Cayla Kolbusz singing “Gimme Gimme” (that thing called love), followed by an audience-pleasing rendition of “When You’re Good to Mama” from “Chicago,” sung by Camille Charara, whose belting voice sold the number. The usual racy aspects of the song are toned down significantly.
ON MY OWN ‘TIL THERE WAS YOU
Michael Falzon leads with “Not a Day Goes By,” followed by Cayla Kolbusz’s rendition of “On My Own” from “Les Miz,” which showcases her beautiful voice.
Dearborn High School’s two “Marian the librarians” – Camille Charara and Katie Polidori – in the school’s upcoming production of “Music Man” then sang the hauntingly beautiful ballad, “Til There Was You.”
GABER GROOVES
Joe Gaber then picks up the pace of the show as he delivers a fast moving, high energy rendition of, “Messy Bessy.” The song showcased his both his talent and his fancy footwork and he captured the attention of everyone in the house.
BACK TO MELLOW
Frabotta changed the pace to mellow once more with her ukelele and bluesy voice, singing “Comes Love.”
LIGHTING UP WITH LAUGHTER
Co-emcee Phil Booth then gathered random words from the house for a musical mad-lib duet with Leah Cooley set to the song, “You Light Up My Life.”
BOOTH AS LOUNGE SINGER
Booth then performs “Night and Day” in a style reminiscent of Dean Martin playing the house at a Vegas Casino, while Camille Charara and Katie Pollidori danced in unison on the runway as what Booth jokingly dubbed “The Phil Booth Dancers.”
SIBLING RIVALRY?
Dylan Frabutt then sang “So in Love,” followed by Kira Frabotta’s audience sing-a-long "Tonight, you Belong to Me" accompanied by her ukulele.
LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
Westley Montgomery then sang a hauntingly beautiful version of “Johanna” from “Sweeney Todd.”
THE STARS COME OUT
Leah Cooley treated us to her beautiful voice one more time in “Stars and Moon.” The space theme closed out the evening with an audience sing-a-long to “Fly me to the Moon.”
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