By Walter Ryce

Musical Theatre: A Genre of Art and Storytelling was a free show of Broadway tunes performed by the students in Carlos A. Tottress’s Voice I and II vocal and singing classes. 

The free show drew about 75 audience members to the World Theater on Friday, March 24, the last school day before spring break.

Jonah Bernstein and Emilia Davies-England served as the show’s emcees, trading off introductions to the musical numbers and singers.

It opened with all the singers performing “Seasons of Love,” the iconic ensemble song from “Rent.” Then each student took turns singing a solo number from various shows. 

Lizbeth Guzman was first up, performing “Dancing Queen” from “Mamma Mia!” Then Kevin Grether performed “If I Were a Rich Man” from “Fiddler on the Roof.” 

Many students appeared bold and expressive in their performances. Some incorporated costumes and choreography into the mix. The audience showed appreciation and support for all by applauding and whooping after each performance. 

“Grease” was the most popular musical to be drawn from, with three musical numbers, maybe owing to the coming streaming prequel series “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.” 

An especially well-received song was “You’ll be Back,” from the King George character in “Hamilton,” performed in full royal regalia by Ryan Anderson, who channeled the arrogance and British accent of the original. He made a concession to the family-friendly nature of the show, changing a key lyric to “I will bless your friends and family to remind you of my love.”

Shaye Acevedo was well received for his interpretation of "New York, New York," from the movie and musical of the same name. And Bryan Gutierrez closed out the first half with the male cast members as back-up dancers on "Grease Lightning." 

Jeff Jones, chair of the CSUMB Music and Performing Arts Department, saids some of the standouts of the second half included Roxanne Ortiz singing “When He Sees Me” from “Waitress” and Jessica Voris's rendition of “This is Me” from “The Greatest Showman.”

“Alejandro Gomez's performance of ‘Los Chucos Suaves’ from ‘Zoot Suit’ was another highlight of the second half for me,” Jones said. “He took the stage in character, dressed in a flashy zoot suit and emulating the demeanor of pachuco culture.”

He pointed out that “Zoot Suit” was created by Luis Valdez, a founding faculty member at CSUMB. 

The students performed 25 songs, culling from musical stage and film works like “Dear Evan Hansen,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Coco,” “Toy Story,” “Funny Girl” and others. 

"I'm so proud of Carlos and his students for putting together a good show and creating such a positive atmosphere,” Jones said. “Whether someone is just learning to sing or is well on their way to a professional career as a vocal artist, everyone supports everyone. I think that’s wonderful.”

The Music and Performing Arts department offers classes in singing, guitar, piano, songwriting, music production and more. Shows like this help students transition from the classroom instructions to real audiences in front of a stage. 

The performances also invite the community to enjoy the talents and venues on campus. 

There is another free musical performance happening on campus April, 21 when the Performing Otters are doing the dark musical "Sweeney Todd," at the World Theater.