ROME — Current and past students from Rome Free Academy will once again combine their talents this Saturday on the school stage, recalling their many musical performances over recent years.

“If I Had My Time Again,” the 15th annual RFA student and alumni cabaret show, is at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, in the school’s auditorium, 95 Dart Circle. Admission is free, but donations toward the 2023 RFA musical - to be performed April 27-29 - will be accepted.

They will be be announcing the 2023 musical at the cabaret, said RFA Musical Director Jake Meiss, who is co-producer of the cabaret.

The performances will include a variety of musical theater pieces, with songs from “Footloose,” “Groundhog Day,” “Hadestown,” “Waitress,” “Memphis,” “Miss Saigon,” “A Chorus Line” and many more beloved Broadway shows. It will feature a variety of solo, duet, trio, quartet and full ensemble pieces throughout the revue.

“The audience can look forward to an enjoyable evening of some familiar tunes and some tunes that may be new to them as well,” Meiss said.

Meiss offered his thanks to everyone who comes back to participate and to his co-producers Melissa Rashford and Kristen Meiss, who he called “great collaborators.” He also said he is glad to see so many talented singers and instrumentalists who have graduated from RFA coming back to perform.

“It’s fun to see (grads) sit side by side with our younger students, singing and playing together,” said Meiss. “We get great involvement each year. It’s great for our younger students to learn from these seasoned performers.”

“The cabaret is a great opportunity for all of us to work together to put on a show in a limited amount of time, and our students and (grads) are always up to the challenge,” agreed Rashford, an RFA alumna herself. “The process introduces our younger students to a wide range of musical theater pieces, while also giving those (alums) continuing in music education the opportunity to arrange pieces and direct rehearsals.”

The singers are accompanied by a pit orchestra comprised of current students, graduates, and Rome music teachers.

Soloists will include Bethany Beeman, Richard Blackshear, Alex Brown, Kayla Bush, Liam Butler, Jacob Carissimo, Jon Carissimo, Giana Cheri, Jamilla Claypool, Jake Cosentino, Alana DeJosie, Chandni Desai, Tejas Desai, Jackie Dixon, Connor Evans, Sharmayne Gambrel, Joe Gazzilli, Evan Griffith, Hannah Hoffman, Jordon Hoffman, Deanna Matt Kotary, Evan Lewthwaite, Zach Linderman, Rebecca Matte, Bianca Mays, Nick Mellace, Abigail Morgan, Dakota Morrison, Megan Morrow, Kevin O’Neil, Maria Parker, Melissa Rashford, David Salce, Christopher Smalls, Tiffany Smalls, Stacy Spindler, Samantha Steagall, Zach Swistak, Giovanna Sudol, Lauren Taylor, Ethan Vernold and Emily Worth.

“The cabaret is a truly unique event,” promised Matte, an RFA class of 2018 graduate who is now a music teacher herself and will be conducting one of the ensemble pieces this year. “It brings students from RFA of the past and the present together for a night of diverse musical entertainment.”

They will be joined by additional featured soloists throughout the evening.

Accompanists and instrumentalists include Alex Brown, Jon Carissimo, Jake Cosentino, Noah Dailey, Aaron Decker, Tejas Desai, Katie Dursi, Zoe Fragapane, Sharmayne Gambrel, Leanna Guerrieri, Mary Hapanowicz, Giana Kleber, Patrick O’Neil, Melissa Rashford, Adelina Rivera, Enrique Rivera, Izabella Rivera, Rafael Rivera, Madison Short, Zach Swistak, Greg Unangst, Valerie Wood-MacRae and Alex Zappavigna.

Zappavigna, a graduate of the RFA class of 2020, is currently a music education student at SUNY Fredonia and has worked hard rehearsing with instrumentalists and transcribing instrumental parts for several songs, Meiss said.

Meiss began the musical revue in 2009 to give current students and alumni of RFA musicals the opportunity to all perform together. An ensemble of RFA students was added In 2010 to allow for performance of pieces that called for a fuller choral sound.

Once again, the show will close with that traditional “megamix” medley.

“My cousin Kristen Meiss, producer of the cabaret, came up with the idea of making a medley of short snippets from each show RFA has produced since 1997 when the school began presenting a musical every year,” Meiss said. “It grows a little each year as I add on a bit from the previous spring’s show and it’s become a favorite of the performers and the audience.” 

The annual cabaret is a great way to welcome back RFA alumni to the stage, Rashford said.

“The show is a fun annual reunion for RFA musical staff and students,” she explained. “We’re all able to catch up with friends we haven’t seen and hear what everyone has been up to since they graduated.”