By Kendall Peterson

This year’s PA talent show consisted of many different acts ranging from junior Joshua Aurelio singing “Come Fly with Me” by Frank Sinatra to seniors Katie O’Connell and Lucy Shane’s “weird theater” acrobatics.

Juniors Jaliyah Branch and Lillian Sisti reenacted “What I’ve Been Looking For” from High School Musical, which was not their first choice. “During the summer, we had an idea to recreate the song from the Lizzie McGuire movie called ‘What Dreams Are Made Of’ because we thought it would be really funny. In the end, it didn’t really work though because of the audio,” said Sisti.

Another performer, junior Ekene Osuchukwu, was not expecting to be a part of the talent show this year, but when she went to just sit and watch the auditions, she decided to perform to the song “Skyfall” by Adele. Osuchukwu noticed that “even though the audience was small, there was a lot of good feedback from the crowd.”

Junior Kyle Main worked the soundboard during the talent show, which was something he had not done before. “I think it’s good to learn about all the tech we have at PA because I already know how to use lights and spot but I haven’t used the soundboard that much, but after the talent show I knew how to use it effectively,” said Main.

During the first act, Main noticed that the “audio was kind of off, but the performers just rolled with it.” Sometimes, the audio would buffer as well, which slowed down some of the performances.

This year, not as many people attended the talent show auditions, according to Sisti and Main. Usually, the director and stage manager choose 12 to 17 acts to perform in the talent show, then they come to call a few hours before the show in order to perform.

Jaliyah Branch was a part of three acts this year, including reenacting “What I’ve Been Looking For,” playing “Africa” by Toto on the recorder, and singing “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys alongside juniors Hannah Ruloff, Shannon Dinkler, Fiona Walden, and Ellen Minslow, and senior Sarah Delaney.

Although Branch was featured in three acts this year, her favorite one to perform was “Africa” because “it was really funny when I kept messing up and it’s kind of a tradition now because I played the recorder last year too,” said Branch.

Sisti said she likes doing the talent show each year because “it’s different each time we do the talent show, which is why it’s so fun and cool to see it.”