​​ASU Former and Present Faculty Join ASF’s ‘Cabaret’

​From left, Dr. Michael Westmoreland, Dr. Katrina Phillips, Dr. Joel Jones, Mr. Shaun Mitchell and Dr. Jonathan Houghtling.

By Hazel Scott/ASU

Those attending Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s production of “Cabaret,” which runs until August 6, will hear the sound of music from several of Alabama State University’s present and former Department of Music faculty.

ASF music director and retired ASU music faculty member, Dr. Joel Jones, is conducting the musical by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb. The show features current ASU faculty members Dr. Katrina Phillips (clarinet), Dr. Michael Westmoreland (flute, clarinet, saxophone), Mr. Shaun Mitchell (trumpet and an ASU music program  alumnus), and Dr. Jonathan Houghtling (trombone).

“They will perform eight shows a week while they are on their summer break from teaching,” said Dr. Carly Johnson, chair of the Department of Music.

For those not familiar with the musical, Johnson said it is set in the fictional Kit Kat Klub in Berlin during the late 1920s.

“This special staging allows audience members to feel like they are transported back to the height of the Jazz Age, experiencing all the sights and sounds of an American jazz club in Europe during the era.  Our faulty members’ musical numbers include "Willkommen," "Cabaret," "Don't Tell Mama" and "Two Ladies."
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ASU’s Department of Music, Johnson said, has a longstanding partnership with ASF, providing musicians and musical consultants for many of ASF’s recent musical theatre productions, including “Cinderella,” “Annie,” “Mary Poppins,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Peter Pan.”
 
For ticket information, bisit www.asf.net, or call the ASF box office at 334-271-5353.