The show went on

MT. PLEASANT — Iowa Wesleyan’s Annual Variety Show certainly offered a variety of talent, entertainment, and unexpected mishaps, Saturday Night in the University Chapel.

Even before guests began to arrive, the University entered the space to an unexpected change in scenery.

While the stage contained a fake fire and numerous forms of vegetation, just prior to welcoming guests, variety show participants noticed matching graffiti “MPCT” scrawled next to their tallest trees.

However, as with most of the evening, the saying “The show must go on,” held true.

Opening with toe-tapping music provided by the Iowa Wesleyan Jazz Ensemble, attention quickly shifted to the talent on stage.

IW Jazz led into a dance and pom routine by the IW Cheer Team, which garnered yells of encouragement from the crowd.

The IW Choir performed sweet songs that pulled together the evening’s theme of “Around the Campfire.”

One IW Choir song even featured a unique composition by IW student Journey Allison.

Early on, what could go wrong, continued to go wrong, as a light dropped from the high ceilings of the chapel right in front of the stage.

IW variety show participants kept the crowd engaged, however, as interactive acts like the Poison Mashup performed by Tyree Walker encouraged clapping and singing along.

While Walker offered an animated performance, even the chill-vibes of Mariam Mikeladze’s “Valerie” captivated those in attendance.

Following an awkward start and stop live auction, the variety show kept on rolling into a comedic, but talented country then rock ’n’ roll performance from The Henriksen-Sywassink Experience.

An unexpected second intermission occurred after this performance, however, due to overuse of the fog machines.

Audience members, performers, and everyone else exited through various doors of the chapel and chatted outside in the chilly air for approximately 30 minutes as they waited for campus security to reset the alarms.

Once they gave the all-clear a significantly smaller crowd reentered the chapel to wrap up the evening.

The show lost some of its momentum following the impromptu fire drill, but they drew the audience back in with laughter.

Two men took the stage to continue a joke about one of them wanting to set something on fire, the irony was not lost on the audience as belly laughed filled the space.

“You cannot start a fire in here,” one man said to the other.

“What as that alarm about anyway?” the other asked as they exited the stage.

Despite a guitar falling from stage, a variety of solos gave all they had before IW Choir wrapped up the evening with a reprise of “This Land is Your Land,” which they sang to welcome guests in at the beginning of the show.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com