Every year, there are four productions that occur during the school year: the Upper School Fall Musical, the Middle School Musical, Lower School Musical, and the Upper School Play. Sadly, the Fall Play has been canceled. Luckily, however, there will be a different event to replace it: Barstow’s Variety Show.
“We have done Variety Shows in the past; this is not new to Barstow. The original thought was since we did not have a musical we would have this.” Mr. Robert Kohler, head of the theater department, said.
Students want to see the hidden gems of talent in Middle and Upper School and hope that this event is a good way to showcase them.
“Barstow usually does not create an environment that facilitates creativity or expresses the talents students have so the Variety Show is a good event to change that,” Anita Mohan (‘23) said.
There is no doubt that Barstow is full of talented students, so the Variety Show should be full of amazing performances. What is interesting about this show is that it is not limited to just students. Faculty could participate in this if they wanted to, and it would certainly make for an interesting night to see a few teachers perform on stage with their talents. There could be some faculty judges as well, just like America’s Got Talent.
There are a few favorites that people want to see perform at the show. A popular one is Ethan Lim ‘29. During one Upper and Middle School meeting, Lim performed a few blues songs. His singing and piano skills at the meeting wowed the school and earned multiple standing ovations.
“I really want to see Ethan Lim perform at the Variety Show. He was great when he performed at the Upper and Middle School meeting,” Zoey Hrabe (‘24) added.
“I hope Ethan Lim is in the show, he is super talented. Or Aaram Salam, he is also really talented,” Mohan said. According to Mohan, Aaram is quite a theatrical performer with amazing singing and piano skills. He would be a good act on the Variety Show.
The Variety Show could also be an opportunity to showcase undiscovered talent as well though.
“I would like to see people the school has never seen before. There is a lot of hidden talent at Barstow that people do not know about and I think it is great to encourage our students. One student is Ethan Brunell-Wright, he is a great piano player and we have yet to see him perform,” Mr. Kohler explained.
Recently, only a few students showed interest in the talent show, but more students are now eager to sign up. One student that has been practicing for a bit is musician Dawood Qadeer (‘24).
“I am going to play a song that I wrote; it is called Cricket. I wrote it near the end of freshman year, and I will accompany it with the ukulele,” Qadeer said. “I am a bit nervous, but hopefully I will have it well practiced by the talent show.”
The original problem with this semester’s Variety Show was that the time between the sign-up and the performance was too short. Students could not adequately prepare.
“I think it was too soon for people to get ready,” Mr. Kohler said.
The Variety Show will be during different Upper School meetings rather than a set date to help students have adequate preparation time. If you are interested in performing at one of the Upper School meetings, be sure to reach out to Mr. Kohler.
Edit: An older version of this article put the date for the Variety Show on October 22nd, 2022. The show was not on October 22nd, but the show will instead be spread over a series of Upper School meetings.
