Love Notes: A Valentine’s Cabaret
Rosetint Community Theatre
East Rock Market
285 Nicoll St.
Feb. 28, 2026
Scanning through a pink-hued program for East Rock community theater troupe Rosetint’s second-ever production—a Valentine’s Cabaret called Love Notes—I had just one question.
How were they going to fit 23 performances in one show?
I counted again. Yep: 13 before the intermission, 10 after.
Here’s how Rosetint pulled it off: With creative, choreographed transitions.
Songs morphed into one another as soloists faded into background characters of the next musical number. The stage, a makeshift wooden platform inside the East Rock Market food court, was viewable from multiple sides. Cabaret attendees sat in folding chairs all around. Cast members made full use of the 360-degree setup, prowling around the edges of the stage and folding in and out of the shadows. At one point in the show, the man sitting to my left, Miles Lasater, stood up to make a declaration about love on stage. He was part of the performance.
With all the inventive group work going on, I was convinced my favorite act of the night would be one of these pieces with many moving parts.
I was wrong. Six songs in, Sebastián Colón Pérez, with a glittery cheek and red sweater, took the stage by himself to sing “Johanna” from Sweeney Todd. The crowd hushed.
I feel you, Johanna, I feel you, Colón Peréz sang.
Horns emerged from the orchestra playing over the sound system. Colón Peréz’s lone voice rang through like a single swan on a lake, casting an ever-widening series of ripples through the space.
In the audience was Ana Betancourt, Colón Pérez’s wife. “Oh, it’s so exciting!” she said of her husband’s role in the show. “It seems like he’s having a blast.”
Betancourt and Colón Pérez first met a decade ago, in high school choir. Even then, Colón Pérez’s star power shone bright; he would “perform every solo,” Betancourt said. Colón Pérez went on to train as an opera singer in college. The last time he was on stage was for an opera his undergraduate program staged at the University of Puerto Rico.
Rosetint Theatre is proudly made up of people of all experience levels, many of whom have taken hiatuses from the stage. The group doesn’t have a physical theater yet, but they’re saving up for one. At the show Saturday, they sold Rosetint merch and raffle tickets to get closer to that goal, and to fund future performances.
Throughout the night, choreographer Charlotta Lebedenko and director Tyler Harding addressed the crowd with meta-commentary on their efforts to get their group off the ground. The merch sales, the multi-use setting, all of it was part of the trying.
A theater kid’s dreams never die—and if they waver, Rosetint is there to rekindle the flame.
I was half-convinced I’d waken,
Satisfied enough to dream you
Colón Pérez’s voice expertly traveled the unsettling tinge that crept into the otherwise triumphant love-ballad notes. It was a moment that required trust from the audience, and Colón Pérez had more than earned it. He hadn’t gotten off-key; the song had, for tonal effect.
Happily I was mistaken
Johanna
The swelling romance was back in full swing.
Colón Pérez is still getting used to the cold winter temps of New England. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, he moved to New Haven a year and a half ago and now works as a case manager at Columbus House. This winter wasn’t quite his first experience of the snowy sidewalks and icy terrain, but it was definitely “the worst” so far.
Onstage, things are looking up. This past December, Colón Pérez and Betancourt attended Rosetint Community Theatre’s first-ever production and got inspired. Colón Pérez joined the theatre troupe and dusted off his deep vibrato in time for the Love Notes Cabaret.
Buried sweetly in your yellow hair, he belted out at the climax of the song. On hair, he let his head lean back as his voice filled the room. He closed his eyes. Something magical was taking place.
After, I asked Colón Pérez how it felt to perform again. “It’s awesome,” he said.
