Wista Concert
August 14, 2018
Cote St-Luc Senior Men’s Club
The West Island Theatre Association (WISTA) is a non-profit community theatre company founded in 2006 that allows individuals between the ages of 17 and 29 to interact and perform in the wonderful world of musical theatre. Their main goal is to keep alive the passions of an energetic combination of singers, dancers, technicians and musicians by giving them a space to grow and develop their skills.
I had the pleasure of seeing them perform tonight and can only find words of praise. The group consisted of 13 females and 3 male singers and dancers. At a certain point I was thinking that it would be unfair to compare any one performer over another. To make it even more difficult we didn’t have a program to identify any soloist. Then, a female vocalist took centre stage and was covered by the rest of the cast providing harmony and background vocals, while she sang Stephen Sondheim’s “Everything’s Coming up Roses”. At that point I decided if every other performer was an A plus, this one was an A plus plus. After that the bar was raised higher and higher as each performer was featured. I Could Have Danced All Night from the musical My Fair Lady was beautifully sung and again I wish I had a program so I could compliment the artist by name. After that it was no contest as the lyrics of Andrew Lloyd Webber and the gifted voices of the performers brought the audience to their feet. The aria from Phantom of the Opera was performed as a duet, him prompting her to sing higher and her reaching notes worthy of any Broadway stage. The entire ensemble performed Bring Him Home from Les Miserables. An unbelievable evening’s entertainment and I welcome my next opportunity to see them perform.
