Edina Student to Perform in Hell’s Kitchen Cabaret Series

Wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy and gluttony. In cabaret. Performed by high school students.

That’s slated for this evening as part of “Seven Deadly Sins,” the first of the Hennepin Theatre Trust’s SpotLight Cabaret Series. The Trust has launched the program to showcase—or spotlight, if you will—young musical theater talent from around the metro area. 

Participation in the cabaret series was open to any student in the Hennepin Theatre Trust’s SpotLight Musical Theatre Program, which nearly 50 schools across the state were a part of this past school year. 

Linnea Valdivia is the only student from Edina performing Monday evening. Valdivia, who will be a junior at this fall, heard about the opportunity from her director, Tony Matthes. Other schools represented in the “Seven Deadly Sins” cabaret include Benilde-St. Margaret’s, Blaine and Southwest High School. 

With a playfully dark theme of the seven deadly sins, the show features riffs on songs from well-known musicals, a surprising number of which are Disney features, Valdivia said. Remember “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid? The cabaret group couldn’t resist. 

Each sin will be represented with a song and monologue. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Valdivia promises an uplifting message at the end. 

Designed to be a hands-on experience, the students actors and stage crew work with theatre professionals for the cabaret series. But the direction, production and performance are led largely by the young participants. In addition to performing in the show, Valdivia was part of the marketing crew who designed promotional materials and worked with the restaurant on advertising the event. 

“The director kept us on track and everything, but the best thing about it is that it’s kind of our project,” Valdivia said. “We were involved in the entire process. At the end we stepped back and said, ‘Wow, we did this.’ It’s a really cool feeling.” 

Valdivia, who had behind the scenes roles in two recent Edina High School productions, as the house manager and a member of the pit crew, said she hopes to be on stage in the 2011-2012 school year. She sees her involvement in the cabaret as a step in the right direction.

“This is helping me get a little more confident and find out who I am on stage,” Valdivia said.

The “Seven Deadly Sins” show, the first in the cabaret series, will be fittingly held at Hell’s Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis at 7 p.m. tonight, July 18. Advance tickets are sold out, but a limited number of tickets will be available at the door. Get there early for a chance to see talented high school students from around the metro in action. Tickets are $10 each. 

“We’re excited that we’ve had such a positive response to the first cabaret,” Hennepin Theatre Trust’s Sarah Johnson said. 

The next cabaret is scheduled for August 22 at the Fine Line Music Cafe. The Hennepin Theatre Trust website will continue to post information on upcoming cabaret performances.