By Todd Martin
Special to the Daily Herald
Forty years of tradition continues at Killeen High School tonight as choir members mix rock ‘n’ roll, funk, pop and rap with an enduring cake auction at Club Allegro.
The final show is at 7 p.m. in the KHS Auditorium.
The musical montage of hit music up to the year 2000 features 28 individual music acts, along with special performances by the school’s jazz choir and seniors.
The show features a band of local musicians, including KHS assistant choir director Jimmy Baas, who arranges the music and plays the keyboard in the five-member group.
Now in its 40th year, Club Allegro started in the school’s cafeteria but moved into the auditorium when more professional staging and lighting became available, choir director Alison Haygood said.
In the old days, students served as waiters, serving guests in a catered dinner in the cafeteria. Now, it is more of a rock ‘n’ roll show with professional sound, lighting and band.
Students appear in authentic costumes and use voices to sound like the original acts.
Also, the longtime tradition of a cake auction at intermission continues. During the Friday and Saturday shows, audience members bid on a 20-pound homemade chocolate cake.
Another tradition that carries on is performers moving into the audience to give a more intimate feel.
Club Allegro gives choir students a chance to work alongside a live professional band, which is a different feel from the usual formal choir performances, Haygood said.
“They get to learn to perform in a different way,” she said. “It’s about stage presence.”
She said the light show this year by Jerry Wilson of KISD-TV is a special treat.
“Some of the students start in the summer getting their acts together,” Haygood said. All of the acts are students representing Killeen High School’s four choirs.
Proceeds from the show go to the choir’s scholarship fund for senior choir members.
If you go
What: Club Allegro at Killeen High School in the KHS Auditorium
When: 7 p.m. today.
Hits from the 1960s through the 1990s will be performed from rock to funk, R&B, country, pop and rap.
Cost: Students, $5; adults $12 at the door.