The audience fills the room, waiting for the curtain to rise. Twelve students, including senior Kami Armstrong wait backstage, biting nails and sweating; each reproducing the quiet, half-hearted ghost notes or steps of yet another rehearsal.
“I’m usually pretty calm beforehand, while I’m waiting backstage,” Armstrong said. “I get jittery when I realize I’m about to walk out, right up until I turn on the piano.”
People mutter, laugh, applaud and criticize. The resulting cacophony combined with the knowledge that this lively rabble will be voting at the end of the show to determine the winners are enough to make even a veteran performer nervous.
But still, she manages it.
“When I’m on stage, I can hear everything going on in the audience. I hear people whispering and talking. I even imagine I can hear people texting,” Armstrong said. “Ultimately, I just need to remind myself what I was feeling when I wrote the song so I can do my own work justice.”
By the end of the night, the acts had all performed, the MCs had told their corny jokes, and choir directors Stephen Vano and Steve White had thanked everyone for supporting the talent show, which at $5 a ticket, raised over $1000 for the choir.
“It was very successful,” Rhodes said. “We had a great turnout.”
The talent show, a yearly production by the Choir department, serves not only as a fundraiser, but also a forum at which students can express themselves. Though some 30 acts tried out, most were culled at auditions by Vano and White, leaving the twelve that performed, of which Johnathan Porlier Gonzales took first, J.P DeOvando second, and Kamryn Armstrong third.
“All of the acts that tried out were good, but the fact is we can’t be in there for two and a half hours.”
Sponsors were satisfied with the turnout and the sheer artistic abilities of the performers.
“It went well. There’s a lot of talent at the school, and we need to see what people can come up with every year,” White said. “Self-grown and self-taught talent. We need to see more of that.”
