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Villains Take Center Stage in Upper School Musical Revue

2/11/2026

What makes a musical villain so unforgettable? Some revenge, a dash of ambition — and usually a big showstopping moment.

This year’s Upper School Revue put those larger-than-life traits on full display with songs from “Mean Girls” to “Sweeney Todd.” The 19 students in the revue, titled “In Our Villain Era,” set out to bring some of Broadway’s most notorious evil characters to life on January 29–31.

As the regal and ruthless Queen of Hearts from “Alice by Heart,” Mira Tiongson ’28 performed “Isn’t It a Trial” with all her heart. The chance to belt out a tune from one of her favorite musicals was tempting enough, as was the villainous theme. “Villains always have the best songs, in my opinion,” Tiongson said. “Having input on which song I would sing was very appealing.”

Caitlin Adler, revue and music director, said, “What is so cool about this concept is that the kids are realizing that there are so many types of ‘villains.’ Some villains are just misunderstood, or were mistreated, and some are just straight up evil. The performers are getting into the heads of these characters and bringing out these nuances in an awesome way.”

Eamon Wall ’28 eased into the darkly comedic role of King George from “Hamilton” for his solo performance of “You’ll Be Back.”

“As the song goes on, King George gets more deranged and extreme,” Wall said. “He shifts from the delightful king to the ‘I will kill your friends and family’ sort. For that part, I played around with my body language and facial expressions in the mirror, which I applied to the performance.”

Adler was thrilled to see students showcasing their acting, dancing and singing chops each night: “I was so proud of the students in this show. They all grew so much and had so much support for each other.”