Newtown High School (NHS) theater students sang show tunes with a twist at Broadway Backwards on Friday, February 27.

Run by Nighthawks Theater Spotlight, Broadway Backwards is a cabaret night where NHS theater students sing songs from roles they are unlikely to ever play.

Whether a guy wanted to venture “Into the Unknown” like Elsa or a girl wanted to “Go the Distance” like Hercules, theater students were encouraged to go all out and perform whatever they wanted.

It was a full house in the high school cafetorium Friday night, as family and friends came to support their loved ones. There were also plenty of cookies and cupcakes for people to snack on as they sat and enjoyed the show.

NHS student Maddie Britton served as the event’s emcee, and had the honor of introducing every student performer before they came onto the stage.

The 13 featured acts that night went all out to make Broadway come to life on the cafetorium stage.

Charlotte Foley, Cali Taylor, and Smith Gureasko-Moore had a lot of fun performing “Cabinet Battle 1” from Hamilton. They had big smiles on each of their faces as they performed the iconic rap, and even used black marker to draw beards on their faces for the special occasion.

Grace Siegrist came prepared for her number, “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast. She brought a whole slew of props such as a candle holder, a small teapot, and a large clock, rotating between them depending on which character she was singing as.

Talmage Bacon and Jack Mendez closed the first half of the show with “What is This Feeling?” from Wicked. This performance was an absolute riot for the audience, as the boys purposefully sung with the highest voices they could do. Between that and their costumes, which mimicked the musical’s star characters Glinda and Elphaba, it is no surprise the crowd gave Bacon and Mendez a big round of applause when they finished.

Alexa Harrison brought out her theater friends for “I Just Can’t Wait to be King” from The Lion King, with her friends acting or loosely dressed as a cheetah, snake, flamingo, lion, or deer. The audience clapped along as Harrison, dressed as a lion with face paint, smiled singing the classic Disney song.

Elizabeth Collins handled both parts of “A Whole New World” from Aladdin; she sang Jasmine’s part of the song normally, but put on a black hat, and raised her index finger, which had a mustache on it, to her face when singing Aladdin’s part. This made for some delightfully chaotic moments where Collins had to quickly switch between characters.

Gabby DeNicola and Hayden Valentin closed out the show with “Dear Theodosia” from Hamilton. Their rendition of the sweet, sentimental number made for a perfect bookend to a delightful night, with the crowd giving them a big round of applause for their performance.

The other performers included: Hailey Gilman and Ellie Harrington with “The Girl Gets Around” from Footloose, Olivia Olson and Izzy Ribeiro with “It’s Tough To Be a God” from The Road to El Dorado, Rayne Oldi with “Freeze Your Brain” from Heathers, Lia Battaglia and Samantha Hoffert with “You’re Nothing Without Me” from City of Angels, Ciana Alvarez with “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton, Lillian Padilla and Ethan Kirk with “Seventeen” from Heathers, and Sofia Talluto and Kevin Gray with “The World Will Remember Us” from Bonnie & Clyde.

The night featured several raffles, which included a movie night basket, a Starbucks basket, a mystery box, and two tickets to NHS Drama’s upcoming spring musical, Mamma Mia!.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.