When I was a student at Queen's University there were two organizations that embraced musical theatre -- QMT (Queen's Musical Theatre) and Queen's Players.

QMT did respectable, classic shows (L'il Abner, The Pajama Game, Chicago) at the Grand Theatre in Kingston, and Queen's Players who did more raucous cabaret style shows in a pub. QMT thought Queen's Players people were crazy drunk renegades who couldn't make the cut for QMT productions -- and Queen's Players thought QMT people were a bunch of uptight, boring snobs. Dare I say Broadway versus Off-Broadway?

As you might have guessed I belonged to QMT.

When I finally went to see a Queen's Players show I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it -- hearing for the first time selections from Little Shop of Horrors.

Well, harrumph, maybe there was room for the two of us...

I hope the two organizations have long since buried the hatchet.

In an alumni e-mail I came across "Queen's Players Toronto", who sound like they are keeping up the QP tradition, and for a good cause this time!

From their Web site:

The Queen's Players Toronto Theatre Group is a not-for-profit organization headed by a group of Toronto artists. All the proceeds of our events are donated to charity. To date we have raised $15,000 for the Stephen Lewis Foundation.

Our first pop culture mash-up OLD SCHOOL AND THE CITY (Fall 2004) was an atomic blast. THE APPRENTICE BRIDE (Spring 2005) was another step closer to commitment. With two sold-out successes under our belts we figure why not go for three? So, in almost perfect timing for Halloween, we bring you another installment of Queen's Players Toronto debauchery, our most sugary sweet angst-ridden show ever... COUNT CHOCULA'S BREAKFAST CLUB.

The format of the show has origins in a series of semi-annual cabaret style shows performed at Queen's University since the dawn of time. Famous ex-players include: Lorne Greene, Robertson Davies, The Arrogant Worms and MSNBC's Ashleigh Banfield.

We have a bunch of traditions that include:

Every show contains the line "where shall we go, what shall we do?"

Whenever a cast member says a song title, the entire audience shouts at them to SING!

When someone makes a noticeable mistake we often point out how "Seamless" it was.

We drink during the show. Some get hammered before the curtain call. Some get sloshed before the audience sits down. The audience should follow suit.

The audience will often pass a cup of beer to a performer during a scene or song. That performer will often accept the drink and chug it before moving on with the performance.

Touche!

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