In life, the community we build is not just with those that are close to us, but the luminaries and mentors that precede us. On Saturday, as McCarter’s Berlind Theatre shut its doors and The Princeton Playhouse began playing, the room flourished with connection and song. Featuring student composers, a chamber orchestra, and a plethora of Princeton students, the ensemble’s 2026 concert, “How to Be Not Alone,” grappled with weighty questions about finding a sense of belonging and reckoning with losing a sense of community while professing a theme of connection through song and dance.
The audience crowded in, directing their eyes at the stage of empty microphones, soon to be filled with students. The show opened with members of the ensemble marching up to the front of the stage to deliver a few choice songs from celebrated musicals like “In the Heights,” “Maybe Happy Ending,” and “Next to Normal,” while the chamber orchestra played along in accompaniment.
After a few performances, it was time for Playhouse to do what it does best: change form. The evening’s special guest was Michael J. Love, an interdisciplinary tap dance artist, scholar, and professor, who was a Princeton Arts Fellow from 2021 to 2023. Embodying the show’s theme of community, Love expressed his excitement coming back to Princeton to dance with some of his former students.
“Ice Cream Sunday,” a combination that takes inspiration from tap’s connection to black cultural history, is near and dear to Love’s scholarly and artistic interests. As Love approached the stage’s wooden tap board, he commented to the crowd, “Let me pretend I’m Bunny Briggs,” invoking one of his heroes — a legend in the history of tap.
In his shiny blue shoes, accompanied by Matt Cline ’27 on a silver trumpet, Love and his former students struck a playful and explosive call-and-response tap piece in the style of his hero, bringing together history, music, and dance all at once. Inviting the audience into his sonic presence created by sound, movement, and expression, Love crescendoed to a clamoring applause.
Between every few numbers, members spoke to the audience, reminding them about the thread of community and connection following each performance. After Love’s performance, the audience was invited to consider what happens when connection is lost. Gracing us with another marvelous composition, original student composer Marvel Jem Roth ’28 conducted a rendition of “Without You” from the musical Rent. Cline then transitioned to an entirely a cappella version of Stephen Sondheim’s “I Remember,” from the musical “Evening Primrose,” with lyrics that, detached from an orchestral accompaniment, struck even harder.
To end the show, Solon Snider Sway, the Playhouse ensemble’s director, announced the final two numbers along with an announcement about the Playhouse’s legacy: the release of an EP containing many of the original compositions heard during the performance. Copies of the EP were sold immediately after the show.
Co-presidents Ava Kronman ’26 and Destine Harrison-Williams ’26 took to the stage and revealed the final songs to be “Father Time” from the musical “Kimberly Akimbo,” and “Save The People” from “Godspell.” The final songs both embodied distinct postures towards the passage of time: the former prayed “for another day,” and the latter asserted its agency for the future, asking, “When wilt thou save the people?” As the ensemble concluded their performance, the stage was lit by the smiles of each member looking to each other, enjoying the moment, and exuding community through song.
Sofiia Patkanovtsiy ’29, a first-year ensembleist, expressed her jubilation after the curtain call. “This show was wonderful. I’m thrilled. I feel like my heart is exploding.”
“We usually meet twice per week, and spend two hours singing and laughing a lot and having a great time getting to know each other,” she said of the rehearsal process.
Taking practice material from over two semesters, the title of the show, “How to Be Not Alone,” manifested itself in the rehearsal room the same way it was felt and presented on stage. When asked about this serendipitous relationship between the theme and the rehearsal experience, Patkanovtsiy replied, “We really wanted to show how special Playhouse is, which is why we decided to center the entire concert around community.”
Unlike other performances, Princeton Playhouse is uniquely positioned towards creating a sense of belonging and community through its form: an ensemble. Layered within this word is a kind of togetherness that can only find itself in performance and artistic expression. By affording the audience a multiplicity of forms — musical theater, tap, a cappella, and chamber orchestra — each working and intertwining within one another, “How to Be Not Alone” created an artistic tapestry as diverse as it is powerful.
Michael Grasso is a contributing writer for The Prospect and a member of the Class of 2029. He can be reached at mg7604[at]princeton.edu.
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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