Flagstaff Music Theatre 25th Anniversary Cabaret

Mark your calendars for Friday, May 19 at 7 p.m.  Fourteen singers accompanied by Music Director Simon Cunningham will take their audience on a twenty-eight-year song fest with highlights from the Broadway shows FMT has presented since 1995.  Tranzend – Studio Fitness, located at 417 West Santa Fe will transform into Flagstaff’s premiere cabaret club where wine, non-alcoholic beverages and light snacks will be available for purchase.  Tickets which include discounts for seniors and students may be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-25th-anniversary-cabaret-tickets-620177917847 .

The cabaret stars directors Brooke Stoff and Pricilla Howell, music director Simon Cunningham, Scott Seaman, A.J. Maniglia, Nathan Henderson, Rebekah Tindall, Lynn Timmons Edwards, Evan Luthye, Austin Shaw, Caitlin Burd, Eric Stoff, Holland Stoff and Alisa Seaman.  A magical mix of solos and group numbers will take you back to Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease and many others.

The Anniversary would have been celebrated in 2020 were it not for the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the performing arts.  FMT was originally founded as The Flagstaff Light Opera Company (FLOC) by a group of dedicated fans of the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan and Franz Lehar as well as classics from the Great White Way.  Led by an all-volunteer board of directors, FMT still does not have a permanent home in Flagstaff but has graced the stages of middle and high school auditoriums, partnered with Theatrikos and is now performing in partnership with Tranzend.

Co-director Brooke Stoff said how excited she way to be leading the company with Priscilla Howell; “the audience can expect a mini-Broadway musical with great atmosphere and refreshments.”  Pianist and Viola Legacy Winner, Charly Spining is one of the founding members and accompanied the 20th Anniversary cabaret.  He said then in a 2015 interview about FLOC’s founding, "We just wanted to have a community group that specialized in music. And, we were all fans of Gilbert and Sullivan, which is a genre in itself. Then we branched out into Broadway and other things."  He spoke then of future celebrations and whole new generations of performers and audience that would inherit the reins of the company.

Many in the May 19 Cabaret exemplify that new, young generation of artists.  FMT recently presented The Last Five Years with three casts that crossed gender boundaries.  They have staged Next to Normal, a musical that deals with depression and mental health as well as pop musicals like Mamma Mia! More recent Broadway shows like Something Rotten and have taken over from Oklahoma and The Sound of Music.  The Cabaret will bring it all together, the new and the old, in a one evening event that is sure to sell out.  For more information about Flagstaff Music Theatre and upcoming productions visit www.Flagmusictheatre.org.