Mackenzie Munn | Managing Editor
Phyllis Schaefer and Madi Walley perform “Say My Name” from Beetlejuice. Their performance, under the group name “Nertherlings,” won best individual group. Photo: Mackenzie Munn
On Tuesday October 15, members of the choir department battled students from the eighth grade choir at J. Lupton Simpson MIddle School. The event was put together by choir director William Rosenfeld and the choir director at JLSMS, Chelsea Curtis.
“The purpose behind the event is for the students to practice performing, but more importantly for the two choirs to begin to form relationships with each other,” Rosenfeld said.
The competition was divided into two categories: which group performed the best, and which school overall performed the best. There were four student judges that would be making the final decisions. Two from JLSMS and two from LCHS.
The event started off strong with Josh O’Connor, an eighth grader from JLSMS, performing “Firework” by Katy Perry. Dressed in a full Uncle Sam costume, O’Connor went all out in full confidence taking control of the stage. The audience cheered loudly the whole performance and gave a strong applause when the performance concluded.
Following O’Connor, Rachel Ramos, a junior, performed the only other solo of the night. Performing “Home” from the musical “Beetlejuice,” Ramos performed a beautifully choreographed performance that had the audience cheering the entire time.
The following five acts were separate groups under the names “VSCO Girls,” “Wi… Uh Ella?,” “Babies,” “M & J,” and “Powerpuffs.” All took the stage with great performances. The mix of students from both the middle and high schools had the audience laughing and cheering for the different creativities each group had to bring to their acts.
The eighth act of the night under the name “The Greatest ShowMen” consisted of Tyler Rhodes and Francisco “Paco” Gamez, performed the song “The Other Side” from their group’s namesake.They brought out props such as a table and chairs as well as shot glasses. They were both dressed in top hats and suits as they performed their song.
“Tyler is so shy, so seeing him perform like that was a total change in character for him,” Josh Finger, class of 2019, said. “He asked me to come back tonight to see him perform and now I know why.”
The last group from JLSMS took the stage under the group name “Tik Tok.” They performed a series of songs popularly used on the social media app “Tik Tok.” It was a group of five eighth grade boys and girls that ended with a front flip performed by Brandon Lee at the end of the song.
“He practiced that front flip every time they practiced and he never landed it.” Sydney Barker, senior said. “But somehow he managed to land it for the performance.”
The final performance of the night was performed by “Nertherlings,” which consisted of sophomores Phyllis Schaefer, Gracie Hawkins, Madi Walley, and Elaine Arringon performing the song “Say My Name” from Beetlejuice. In full costume and makeup Schaefer entered the stage as Beetlejuice and got into full character while performing the song.
As the judges were tallying their final votes, everyone in the audience and all of the contestants were invited on stage to dance to the “Cha Cha Slide” while awaiting for the final decision.
The votes were tallied and the overall best group was “Netherlings” and the overall best school was LCHS.
“I’m so ecstatic and it was such a fun experience,” Schaefer said. “It just makes me so happy to be on stage and it was so fun watching everyone else.”
