Two and a half hours of musical performances and comedy skits dazed a full auditorium and left no confusion about the depth of student talent.
Talent Show2K13: Dazed and Confused packed in 18 primarily musical acts interspersed with video and live action skits about the bewildering effects of a gas leak following an earthquake. Senior Rachel Arnesen directed the April 12 and 13 show.
The show opened with upbeat performances by two new music groups: Thursday’s Good, which incorporated keyboard as well as string, wind and percussion instruments, and Aces and Eights, whose rousing performance of “Seven Nation Army” had the audience clapping along.
Another new band, Short and Sweet, started soft and simple with seniors Emma Keteltas and Jacob Rosenblum singing Ingrid Michaelson’s “You and I” to the sole accompaniment of junior Carson Lystad on ukulele. The gradual addition of thirteen more vocalists and four bold drummers brought the act to a rousing close.
An accident backstage momentarily muted the microphone of junior and lead singer Katherine Paterson during the first night’s performance of Adele’s “Hometown Glory.” The performers continued unfazed while the tech crew fixed the problem immediately.
“Even though there was a technical difficulty, everyone knew how to continue and make it look professional,” freshman Raana Norooz said. “I was really impressed.”
Returning favorites included the dance group SMOP, Drumline and a capella groups NOTA and Pitch, Please.
“I had to catch my breath twice because it was going really well, and I didn’t want to mess up,” NOTA bass singer and junior Robert Christian said. “I didn’t hear a single mess-up.”
Two solo performers also took the stage: seniors Andrea McDonald, who played a beautiful rendition of “Clair de Lune” on piano, and Arthur Huang, who mesmerized the audience with an intricate Chinese yo-yo routine. Lights featured prominently in both performances, highlighting McDonald’s graceful hands and Huang’s fluid performance.
The show’s set design featured 12 intelligent lights, which shone in an array of colors and patterns, enhancing every act.
“The lights took the show’s aesthetic to a whole new caliber,” producer Daniel Levine said.
The comedy skits and films tracked the schedule of a school day, with a skit for each period poking fun at school personalities and events. Live skits impersonated social studies teachers Wendy Eagan and Susan Olden-Stahl, spoofed the language department and made a punch line out of math teacher Tyler Wilkinson’s youthful looks.
The creative films, directed by senior Joseph Norris, placed students in classrooms, hallways, the parking lot and downtown Bethesda throughout the school day as they humorously dealt with the gas leak’s effects. They included cameo performances by chemistry teacher Sean Reid, English teacher Susan Buckingham, SGA advisor Sheryl Freedman, assistant principal Jerome Easton and principal Alan Goodwin. In a scene in which a physical education class erupted into a round resembling “The Hunger Games,” the action shifted from the screen to the auditorium floor as live actors appeared between the aisles and onstage.
The band “Songs About Girls” closed the show with an energetic performance of Coldplay’s “Fix You.” Over 90 performers and 50 techies treated the audience to an unforgettable evening.
“It was marvelous,” Goodwin said. “It gets better each year.”
