MPCSD’s annual Dessert Theater showcases music for all generations

The Mt. Pleasant High School gym had full seating over the weekend when residents crowded in to see jazz bands and show choirs perform in Dessert Theater.

The annual event was held this year on Saturday, March 30, and Sunday, March 31, with the theme of Generation Gap, showcasing music from across the decades as well as the talents of the students.

'You get a chance to see (the district's) whole program from seventh grade up,” said band teacher Jim DePriest, noting that High School and Middle School jazz bands and show choirs all make appearances in the program, though middle school sits out the Saturday night show. 'After intermission, we do something we've been doing for about 20 years called the dessert set.”

At the top of the program though are the high school jazz bands, performing a set which included a piece where the teachers jumped in. During the piece Jim DePriest and some of the other music teachers performed with the band, Jim DePriest banging away at the drums, while Laura Westfall played the trombone and Adam Creager played the Saxaphone.

Following this came performances from the Middle School jazz band and show choir before those gathered were served the 15 cheesecakes and 20 layered cakes brought in for the event during the intermission, then came the titular Dessert Set.

During this set, the band played instrumental backings for 15 different songs as singers shifted on and offstage in small groups. One set of six or so performing 'No Day Like Today” before giving way to another set singing 'Hot ‘N' Cold” and so on; jumping between songs across musical periods from the past 100 years.

'Every year it's one of those things where we try to come up with something just a little different,” said Marlene DePriest of the theme, which is generally determined based partly on what songs they're able to secure.

Breaking up all these performances through the show case were solo and duet performances from the high schoolers. These students auditioned their selections before being allowed to take the stage, and upperclassmen were given priority since. For many of the seniors this was their final time performing with their classmates. Though high school jazz band played at state competition on Tuesday, April 2, the seniors in show choir took their final bow during Dessert Theater.

For senior Levi Puig, he made the performance count by singing 'Over and Over Again” by Nathan Sykes, one of his favorite artists.

'I went into (Marlene) DePriest's office one day and I showed her the song,” Puig said. 'Then Cara (Canby) came in and I was like ‘You should do this with me!' and we decided to do it.”

Puig, a tenor-2, thought it would be a good song to display both his range and Canby's, who's a soprano-1. This is their first year performing together.

'I've always liked the song and Levi and I have been friends forever, so it was really fun to have a little friend moment,” said Canby.

In the case of senior Kelsey Notestein, friendly moments fostered by shared music have been frequent enough through the years that she feels closer to all her classmates.

'You really create kind of a family with all these people you perform with for so long,” said Notestein, who perfumes in both show choir and chamber choir. 'So you kind of just feel comfortable with them. I'm very grateful I was able to do it for basically my whole high school career.”