All the countless hours of memorization and practicing came to their climax during Cairn Opera Theatre’s performance of Guys and Dolls this past weekend. Friday night was my first real experience with Cairn’s music department. Walking into chapel, I honestly did not know what to expect. While I had always heard that we had a very talented group of individuals in our school, I did not see this for myself until I went to the performance. I was very much surprised with the amount of talent that my fellow highlanders have.

The lungs that Angie Tyler has are completely insane. While singing her solo parts of the song “I’ll Know,” I was completely blown away by her vocal range. When I read in the program that she was a vocal performance major, it came to me with no surprise. She is a true talent and very beautifully embodied the mild, yet strong-willed persona of Sarah Brown.

Kira, while playing a very different character than Miss Brown, did equally as amazing in her interpretation of Adelaide. Kira is not only an amazing vocal talent, but she also kept me laughing throughout the entire play with her over the top facial expressions and New York accent.

Scotty Meiser was also a perfect Nathan Detroit. In his senior performance on the Chatlos stage, Scotty perfectly portrayed a slimy yet somehow loveable crap game player (maybe it’s all in the moustache).  The wit that I have seen throughout three years of classes with him shone through the humor of his character. Also, knowing how much reading we both have for our one class, I have no idea how he managed to find time to memorize all of those lines.

Deion also played his role of Obadiah “Sky” Masterson perfectly as well. He clearly transitioned the corruptness of his character at the play’s beginning to the sweetness of his feelings towards Sarah at the end. As the audience, I was very much convicted of the genuineness of his character. In the program, Deion mentions that this is his first lead performance; he could have fooled me. I believed he played his role with the experience of a seasoned professional.

With such a strong and talented arts cast, I am rather disappointed that the time to appreciate such talent was forced to be split with other campus events that same weekend. I understand that athletic schedules cannot be adjusted to accommodate the play, but I really wish that the pick-a-date events were better timed so that they did not interfere with the show times (even if they were the same day). Actually, I think it would have been really nice if Student Life even made the play one of the dates that could have been chosen, promoting the Opera Theater group. While there was a Friday night performance that could be chosen, I really think that for the amount of effort that was put into these shows, these performers deserve for their attention to be undivided for all three showings.