For twenty four years now, the most exciting night of the school year has fallen towards the middle of March – and if you’ve never been to our school’s talent show before, you’re missing out. The AMHS talent show is one of the most stunning displays of Magnet’s student talent, with this year showcasing some of the student body’s most diverse acts. Regardless of who takes the stage, the show is guaranteed to be spectacular, and year by year it simply becomes more and more impressive.
Announced by emcees Lillian Osbon and Rentz Hughes, the show encompassed a total of fifteen separate acts. The AMHS Dirty Birds serenaded in-comers with a variety of percussion rhythms as they found their way around the Rose Maree Myers Theater, taking their seats for the next two hours. Not long after the conclusion of the Dirty Birds, the first act of the night took the stage: sophomore Harper Teague took the stage, singing “Right as Rain” by Adele. She was accompanied by fellow sophomore Nicholas Turco, who provided a piano instrumental for her to sing along to. Harper’s singing was a wonderful opening to the show – and luckily for the audience, this was not the last time they would see her.
The next act to grace the stage was a particularly unique one, with freshman Peter Gholson dancing to the song “Kick in the Door” by Notorious BIG. While there have been multiple solo and group dance performances in the past at the talent show, Peter’s dancing brought a new and distinctive spark to the feel of the event, truly “kicking in the door” to the rest of the night with his talent of hyping up the audience.
After Peter was Machaela Black, another sophomore, with her remarkable vocal performance of Passion’s “I’ve Witnessed It.” Her gentle yet strong voice was well suited for the gospel ballad, bringing a sense of passion to the stage that carried on for the rest of the night.
Up next was another unique talent, with junior Logan D’Agostino beatboxing on stage. Similarly to Peter, this is not a talent that has been seen on the talent show stage before – however, it was an incredible act, and beatboxing requires an immense amount of talent. This was only proven further by one of the emcees, Rentz, attempting to beatbox and failing miserably. (It was quite difficult for us to read our speaker notes for the rest of the night.)
The fifth act of the night saw Harper’s return to the stage, singing a duet of Hozier’s “Do I Want To Know” with fellow sophomore Kate Taylor. Kate played the guitar to serve as their background music, and her spectacular skills with her instrument resulted in a beautifully melodic accompaniment to their singing. The display of guitar skills only continued once junior Jack Childers took the stage for the next act, performing “Lady May” by Tyler Childers and showing off his prowess in both singing and guitar.
Senior Katy Baldwin was the final act of the first set, displaying her proficiency in Irish dance with an originally choreographed dance. Her dancing was a wonderful conclusion to the first set, leading into a brief ten-minute intermission for the rest of the acts to prepare. During this intermission, audience members could submit original shoutouts for the emcees to read between acts: some of these included senior Billy Brodsky advertising the mobile game My Singing Monsters, as well as a large multitude of family and friends wishing luck to the upcoming acts and lavishing praise on the ones who had already completed their performances.
The second set started off with a bang, with senior Randy Villariza playing his own rendition of “Piano Man” by Billy Joel. With his piano performance accompanied by strong vocals and his excellent usage of the harmonica, Randy left a lasting impact on the audience and judges and was an excellent opener to the second set.
After Randy came the Adi Brothers Band, composed of Adithya, Adarsh, Akash, and Akhil Ayandra. Adithya is a junior while Adarsh and Akash are freshmen, with the youngest brother, Akhil, being an eighth grader. The four brothers performed “Phantom of the Opera” by Iron Maiden, an incredible performance that set the stage for the next bands to come.
Up next was senior Rainn Dyce and junior Miranda Sundin performing “Summertime” by George Gershwin, accompanied by senior Corinne McGowan and junior Carson Clark on guitar and percussion. Their performance was truly reminiscent of the season the song was named after, which the emcees remarked was just around the corner.
The next act took the audience back to a more hyped-up stage, with juniors Sam Galloway and Cole McGowan performing “One” by Metallica with percussion by Sam Persinger. This act, third to last in the main show was the perfect segue into the final two acts, with the pair’s remarkable talents on guitar getting the crowd suitably excited for the rest of the show.
The penultimate act of the talent show was the KPop Club, led by seniors Riley Sisak and Gordon Oliver, who performed along with fellow seniors Charlotte and Elizabeth Morgan, juniors Hannah McLaughlin and Helina Lloyd, and sophomore Erin Efa. The group danced along to the song “Brought The Heat Back” by Enhypen, and their commanding stage presence and the strength of their dance resulted in a resounding amount of applause that truly brought the heat back to the talent show.
The KPop Club may have brought the heat back, but the final act was certain to bring the hype: to finish off the show, seniors Keveon Ford, Donovan Hamilton, Sam Persinger, and Randy Villariza performed as well-known AMHS band Bring the Hype, playing the songs “Separate Ways” by Journey and “Take On Me” by A-ha. This was Bring the Hype’s final performance at the talent show, as the band’s members are graduating this May, and it truly was a suitable send-off – with impeccable vocals and true proficiency in their instruments, this band blew away the audience with their level of skill.
After the spectacle of the main show, while the judges were tallying up their scores and declaring winners, the AMHS Jazz Band took the stage and played three melodies to serenade the audience during this waiting period. After the jazz band’s act was finished, the winners of the show were announced:
In third place, there was a tie between Randy Villariza and Sam Galloway, Cole McGowan, and Sam Persinger. In second place came the KPop Club’s dance to “Brought the Heat Back.” And finally, the winner of the talent show was Bring the Hype, the final step to years of talent show domination.
Each and every single performer in the show contributed to the year’s most spectacular display of talents, with each of them having their own strengths and an immense amount of courage to show their talents to the school. If you have a talent you’d like to share, whether it be singing, dancing, or something the school has never seen before, consider auditioning – and if you don’t want to share a talent, Mr. Grimshaw is always looking for volunteers to help out. The talent show is one of AMHS’s most exciting events, so make sure you don’t miss it next year!
slideshow here: https://amhsnewspaper.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=82329&action=edit
