Eclectic Wasilla High School show to feature music, coffee

WASILLA — What do you call an event that involves everything from guitar performances to solo singers to bad jokes? Is it a talent show? A theatrical revue? A cavalcade of fun?

In the case of Wasilla High School and today’s fundraising event, you call it Bistro Night.

And if that name is at all confusing, here we should probably mention that there’s a cup of coffee and desert in it for each attendee.

“One of the moms in our booster club thought that would be a good name for it,” said WHS music teacher Sara Guhl. “Everybody likes coffee and we all go to the bistro and have our coffee.”

She said the performances will run the gamut. The jazz band will play with a singer. There’s some classical music. There’ll be a cover of The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” and a Billy Joel ballad.

“We’ve got a violist that’s playing a piece from ‘Lord of the Rings,’ we have someone who wrote an original song that she’s playing with her guitar,” Guhl said.

The show has been in the works since last spring.

“We thought we should have something to showcase some of the other talent that we have instead of at a straight choir concert,” Guhl said.

Oh, and the jokes? Who says they’re bad?

“There’s a boy and a girl who are the emcees, and they’re telling puns and knock-knock jokes,” Guhl said.

OK, that’s pretty bad.

“That’s about as bad as it gets,” Guhl said.

The whole thing is a fundraiser for a trip Guhl said she is planning for her students to New York for Spring Break 2015.

“There will be a music festival. We’re going to be doing a workshop with professional musicians, some who are in Broadway plays,” she said.

There’s also a trip to the New York Philharmonic, a Broadway play and the Metropolitan Opera House — kind of a mix of touristy and educational, and usually an eye-opening experience for a bunch of kids from Wasilla, many of whom have never been to the Big Apple.

The idea for the 10-day excursion, she said, comes from a friend of hers, Palmer High School music teacher Stan Harris.

“He does it and it just kind of rubbed off on me,” Guhl said. “It’s just such a learning experience.”

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.

What: Bistro Night musical revue

Where: Wasilla High School Commons

When: Friday, Feb. 1 at 6 p.m.

Why: To raise funds for a student trip to New York City

Cost: $5 per person