Set List
Love is in the Air…………………..…..…….A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
More and More and More…..……..…Next to Normal
Tell Me I Look Nice……...…..………………..She Loves Me
Meadow Serenade………….………....Strike Up the Band
Don’t Go/Why Should I Wake Up?……….…Cabaret
World Take Me Back………………..……………Hello Dolly!
Seeing You There……………………………..Ordinary Days
Crossing a Bridge……….………………………….….Anastasia
We’ll Have Tomorrow…….……Little Shop of Horrors
Happily Ever After……….……………………..…….Company
Each song title contains a hyperlink to the original rendition of each song so you can learn more about how each song was intended to be performed in the shows they came from. Please wait until you get home to listen to them!
Cast and Creative Team
Connor McGuire
Connor McGuire is a Rochester-based theatre artist and scientist and is simply ecstatic to make his Rochester Fringe Festival debut! Select regional theatre credits include: Paul Bratter u/s in Barefoot in the Park (Geva Theatre), Kulygin in Three Sisters (The Classics Company), Mr. Z./Ensemble in An American in Paris (JCC CenterStage), and Priest/Ensemble in The Light in the Piazza (Blackfriars Theatre). Some of his other favorite roles include Oscar in Sweet Charity, Lt. Frank Cioffi in Curtains, John Well Wells in Less Miserable, and Jason in Ordinary Days. Connor has a PhD in Toxicology from the University of Rochester and works in the field of public health. Many thanks to all of his family, friends, mentors, and of course, his two cats Agatha and Zephyr, for all their love and support on this journey. Instagram: @cmcguire15
Dane Noble-Rosema: Pianist
Dane is thrilled to be collaborating with Connor McGuire this year for the Rochester Fringe Festival. Dane is part of the School of Performing Arts at the Rochester Institute of Technology where he musically directs the scheduled productions, and is a collaborative pianist for applied music instruction, RIT Singers and Chamber Singers. He is involved in local professional and community theatres too, having recently musically directed Off Monroe Players two-one-act features Trial by Jury and Less Miserable, where he worked previously with Connor. Other notable productions include Secret Garden for the JCC's Summer Stage production last year, Patience, H.M.S. Pinafore for Gatesinger Company and the recent Gala Inaugural Concert performance of Till There Was You to celebrate the opening of RIT's new Performing Arts Center for which he composed the opening number, orchestrated and conducted. He is currently in rehearsals for Sunday in the Park with George at RIT, which is scheduled to run in November. Dane is also an avid solo performer, and composer for music of film and interactive games.
Brittany Quinzi : Additional Vocals
Brittany Quinzi is honored to be making her Fringe debut supporting Connor McGuire in his show! Regional credit: Mrs. Squires in The Music Man: Concert Version (Blackfriars Theatre). Select favorite local credits include Roz Keith in 9 to 5 the Musical (November 2026), Gangster #2 in The Drowsy Chaperone, and Georgia Hendricks in Curtains. Brittany has a M.S. in Ed: The Teaching of Reading and Literacy from SUNY Geneseo and is a high school English teacher. Much love to her husband, two sons, dog, family, and friends for their wisdom and support!
Deborah Conquest: Vocal Director
Deborah Conquest, soprano, vocal coach, and owner of Conquest Voice Studio in Rochester, NY, is just as passionate about coaching singers as she is about competitive powerlifting, competitive painting, hiking, rockabilly music, and maintaining a house full of increasingly large houseplants. She is a faculty member at the Eastman School of Music, where she teaches Contemporary Commercial Music and Jazz Vocal Pedagogy. This summer, she returned from the Netherlands and London, where she taught vocal masterclasses. She earned her MM from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (CCM), a BM in Vocal Performance with a Musical Theatre cognate from SUNY Fredonia, and an Honors Certificate from Eastman Preparatory. She also completed doctoral studies at CCM and is ABD. She believes that excellent vocal technique, making art, getting stronger, and eating really good chocolate cake are all worthwhile pursuits. Her students have appeared on American Idol, The Voice, Broadway, The Metropolitan Opera, NFL Playoffs, and more.
Additional Acknowledgements: Many thanks to Courtney Mallen (publicist), Eileen Schad-Dietsch (venue manager) and Robin Sheikh (DUPC Administrator) for their help in getting this show off the ground!
A note from the show's creator
Thank you so much for choosing to spend your time at this little show out of all of the hundreds of productions happening at the ESL Rochester Fringe Festival this year! Here is a little blurb about what lead me to create this show:
My obsession with musical theatre probably wasn’t innate. I started off playing clarinet in the pit for musicals in high school. I was minding my own business one day, when I suddenly was exposed to “A Little Priest” from Sweeney Todd, that other students were singing for a show choir concert. I was never the same after getting my first taste of Stephen Sondheim’s music. I never knew that stories could be told with such specificity through music, and what started with an obsession with Sweeney, led me to West Side Story, Spring Awakening, Cabaret and Next to Normal. I fell in love with musicals and the transformative feelings of human nature that could only be communicated with song. Through the same storytelling medium, different songs could express everythring from the incandescence of first love, a biting social satire, or even the exuberance of getting a second chance after losing everything. I then began to perform myself, joining the chorus of many a high school and community theatre show, before taking on bigger roles in plays in college. I put that all on pause for a few years when I went to grad school, but when Stephen Sondheim passed away around the time I was gearing up to defend my dissertation, I realized how obsessed I still was with musical theatre, and from there I got back into performing, right here in the Rochester theatre community.
So that brings me to the subject of the show you’re about to see. Or are currently seeing if you’re reading this during the show (put that phone away)! I’ve always been fascinated with the history and creative genesis for musicals. I would contantly ask myself the “why” and “how” that lead to music and lyrics that could precisely tell a story, and all the history of how so many people came together to create a production. I’ve also struggled a bit with imposter syndrome when I was in academia (and what scientist hasn’t struggled with that?). So when my hyperfixation on classic musical theatre lead me to discover how many songs were cut, revised, or completely reimagined for the scores we all know and love to day, I saw something of myself in them. Here were all these great tunes, created by iconic composers and lyricists we all know and love, but were ultimately deemed not worth including in the musical they were writing. And that’s why I created this cabaret! To put a spotlight on all of these lost gems, and to ensure that you all leave here today knowing the stories of the songs that didn’t get to be in the musicals we all love.
-Connor