On Nov. 2, 2022, Bart Shatto brought his stage show, ‘Back to Broadway: Heroes, Villains, and Dreamers,’ to the Delaware Valley Regional High School stage as a fundraiser for the DVRHS theater program.

Shatto sang most of the songs that evening, and the singing was amazing. Bart’s vocals, as well as those of the theater program’s students, was incredible. There were no voice cracks and they hit every note.

You could see the passion and wonder the performers were emanating. It was truly beautiful.

The performance was not a single story conveyed through songs, but instead a combination of songs from different musicals. This is an interesting idea because it provided the audience with many different stories, although all of the songs had a central idea of the motivations and dreams that the heroes, dreamers, and villains singing the songs had.

There were many interesting stories: a girl excited to learn theater only to be turned down by her fellow theater crew; a story of a traveler who travels across the lands looking for the right place, falls in love with a girl and is happy she loves him back; a story of two knights bickering, trying to get the princess for themselves while arguing who has it more rough.

Some of the stories and songs stood out more than others, but all of the songs were well performed.

There were 23 songs in total, with a variety of solos, duets and small group numbers. Shatto sang in many of the songs, including my second favorite song of this concert, ‘You’ll Be Back.’

My favorite song has to be ‘Agony,’ which was preformed by Dakota Krouse and Atticus Fiorito. The song was fun and hilarious. Krouse stole the show with his amazing singing and beautiful and hilarious performance.

Fiorito was one of my favorite performances. His voice really shines, especially in ‘Agony.’ His performance was also amazing.

The performance was the typical length of most musicals lasting two hours.

While the concert was great, it was not perfect. Some songs, especially the parts where they sing in unison, weren’t the best. There were forgotten lyrics and some songs had to be started over.

Of course it was fine for the students who are not professionals, but I expected more from Shatto, considering he has been performing for a while. He forgot many lyrics and asked the pianist for the lyrics.

These mistakes were not a huge issue but they were a problem.

Apart from that, the performance was great. The acting, singing, comedy and various stories were breathtaking, and I am really glad I got to see it.

Much appreciation to everyone that was involved with production, music, and performances. I am sure these students will go on to do amazing things and Shatto was a great addition.