Timnath’s First Talent Show

At Timnath Middle High School, the first annual talent show was held on the last day of April with a total of ten performances followed by a closing by the TMHS Staff Band. There was almost a full house of people in the audience consisting of the contestants’  friends, family, and supporting students and staff at our school. 

While there is a common stigma, especially in high school, that talent shows are embarrassing and that contestants are ironically untalented, that certainly wasn’t the case for that night. 

Performance Highlights

The first performance was a vocal duet by sisters Paige and Tessa Barlow who sang I Can’t Help Falling in Love with You by Elvis Presley while playing ukuleles. They seemed nervous on stage at first but began to warm up and play with more confidence, and sang really well together. I thought that it was somewhat tranquilizing, and I couldn’t help falling in love with their sound. 10/10

“Loved the ukulele, loved the vocals, thought it was super sweet that they were sisters.” -Anonymous

The second performance was another vocal duet by teachers Nick and Hannah Sullwold who sang I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. They looked so happy and they harmonized very well together. The vocals were a nice touch and Mr. Sully changed chords on the guitar so smoothly. I thought they seemed very natural and they kept glancing at each other like they were caught in the moment singing the song to each other which was very sweet. 10/10

“I felt good. I loved performing with Mr. Sully, we enjoyed doing this together and it was really hard to see everybody’s face because there was like, no light out there but you could sort of see shapes of people but nobody’s face so I was looking out in the crowd just trying to smile and send out love that way even though I couldn’t really see who was out there. It was fun!” -Hannah Sullwold, TMHS English Teacher

The next performance was a tap dance by mother and daughter, Marci and Lainee Kincaid, to the song Lip Gloss by Lil Mama. They were very in sync with each other while dancing and it was so cool how it looked like they were mirroring each other without even looking! They seemed to be enjoying what they were doing because they moved so confidently and their smiles lit up the stage. I really liked their matching outfits as well. 10/10

“I loved the mother-daughter duo, I thought it was fun how their outfits matched but were opposite, and I thought the choice of song was awesome. Tap dance is cool.” -Anonymous

Following the third was a solo vocal performance by Ella Peterson singing You Don’t Know This Man by Carolee Carmello from the musical Parade, accompanied by teacher Phil Forman playing the piano. I was entranced by the moment she walked on stage so poised in her heels and beautiful green dress. She sang so dramatically as if she were in a film and was really expressional with her hand placement and facial expressions throughout. Her voice carried, I doubt she even needed a mic. She really made me believe that I don’t know this man she describes. 10/10

“She was a really good singer. I liked how emotion-filled it was.” -Anonymous

The performance after was a group of students — Logan Sanchez, Carter Hutson, and Joaquin Mays — who started their own band called Prospect, and performed an original song called Warm. The moment they showed up in their suits and started playing, I was shooketh. They sounded really natural and their voices went well together. They also sounded like The Dead Milkmen because of their playing style, especially the guitar solo, and I really like that band so I may be a little biased. 10/10

“The band was awesome, I was super impressed. I was most impressed that it was an original song. I thought the lyrics and the tune were all really great. Music is like poetry so it was cool that they were writing their own music.” – Hannah Sullwold, TMHS English Teacher

The sixth performance was a contemporary dance by Natalie Heller to Lovely by Billie Eilish and Khalid. She was so flexible and her routine took up most of the stage which was cool to watch because it’s clear that she practiced a lot. She was really light on her feet and she made her face convey the emotions of the song which was mesmerizing. I thought the way she left the stage was cute too because she just darted away. 10/10

“I was super impressed with the dancing. I thought it was especially well-times with the music, like her movements to the lyrics matched up really well, so I was very impressed.” -Anonymous

The seventh performance was another vocal performance by Matti Pletcher, singing Love on the Brain by Rihanna. I was startled when she started singing because she was full on belting from the beginning!  It came out as smooth as talking does to her. She barely even had any voice cracks and she stood and left so nonchalantly. Rihanna who??? She had me wondering who hurt her, someone should just love her already. 10/10

“I think this song is really vocally challenging to do and I thought that she nailed it.” -Anonymous

Performance number eight was a dance by JuJu Figueroa and Sarah Heustis to Single Ladies by Beyoncé. I thought it was cute how they led each other and when they cheered onstage. Everyone was clapping and cheering so much and they looked really happy. 10/10

“The choreography is excellent. The relationship between JuJu and Sarah was great, I loved when they both crossed the stage at the same time, and had like dance moves, and just the sheer joy at the end; that was a fun one.” -Anonymous

The next performance was yet another vocal performance by Vince Hochhalter singing The Baddest by Froggy Fresh. I think the hat and sunglasses really put the whole look together. He was even repping the school with the Timnath shirt. He had everyone pulling out their phones recording him and it certainly wasn’t a dull performance. He was definitely the baddest of them all. 10/10

“Vince was hilarious. Loved the lyrics, just love the actual song, but also his outfit, his movements; everything that he added to it, took it over the top. It was really great.” -Anonymous

The final performance was guess what?? Not chicken butt., another vocal performance! This was done by Alivia Weise and Lily Johnson who sang and played piano to The Great Escape by P!nk. I thought that it was very heartfelt and had a melancholic tone to it, which had everyone engaged and pondering about life. I think it was the perfect closer and was sung and played really well. 10/10

“They are super talented. I play piano and I thought the accompaniment was beautiful, but the vocals I thought she was doing were very vocally challenging and required a lot of control and I was super impressed that a high-schooler was able to pull that off.” -Anonymous

The ending by the TMHS Staff Band was also done well and the song, A Safe Place to Land by Sara Bareilles, which, much like the last song, was pretty calming, kept the audience engaged. Shoutout to Mr. Ecker who introduced every performance and provided comic relief when things were getting situated. I really liked that Scandinavian joke. Real crowd pleaser…11/10

Winning Acts

The winners were announced shortly after the TMHS Staff was done playing (and after Mr. Ecker’s last few dad jokes). It was unclear what the ruling criteria was, but it was announced that everyone did a swell job.

The runner-ups for the talent show are (insert delayed drumroll) a tie between Ella Petersen and Alivia Weise!

And that makes the winner of the talent show…(insert more dramatic drumroll) Matti Pletcher!

Overall, I think Timnath’s first talent show was conducted very well. As said by anonymous students, it was definitely “better than expected” and “yuh,” and as said by Mr. Ecker, “It really showcased our amazing talent here at Timnath, a lot of people hiding in corners that need to share their light more.” (Insert bows and curtain closing)