The Third Annual Performance Arts Showcase on Nov. 19 crammed all of Skyline’s considerable and wide-ranging talent into the Skyline College Theater and onto the stage for the packed house to enjoy.
This night’s festivities showed the full house how much Skyline College has to offer the community when it comes to performing arts. The performers were widely varied in their talents, from jazz, modern dance, and guitar ensembles, to a full concert band, vocal soloists and spoken word performances.
Excited local residents as well as the family and friends of the performers filtered in to the theater as the Skyline College Concert Band warmed up their instruments. This gave off a cabaret feel as the dramatic lighting did its job of welcoming the theatergoers to their seats. Then, the band’s new conductor Zachary Bruno waved his baton and the music, as well as the night, came alive with music. Bruno might be new to this theater, but he looked like he was right at home. “This is my first year teaching here at Skyline and I’m having a fantastic time doing it,” said Bruno. “All of these students and faculty gave so much of themselves, I could not have been happier, it was a fantastic success.”
One of the highlights of the night was a collaboration of the Skyline Concert Band and three vocal soloists performing selections from Phantom of the Opera. Emily Hoover, Megan Coomans, and Jan De La Cruz thoroughly awed the crowd with their Broadway-ready vocal feats from the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic.
Four spoken word performers laid down a thick smokescreen of emotions across the stage and they took many forms. From the streetwise and tough Celine Lota, the nostalgic and retrospective Masjid Tariq, the punk but vulnerable Emma Cambron, to the smart yet sharp tongued Jenny Minh-Ai Vo Phamhi. All were able to transport the audience into their carefully woven tales.
Interwoven throughout the night’s festivities was dance. Dinh Bui and Monica Tong performed an elegant and graceful demonstration of the Tango while the Skyline Dance Production Class loaned their substantial talent to their own numbers as well as cooperative productions with the Skyline Concert Band. The dancers’ director and choreographer, Amber Steele, also coordinated this night’s production and it sounded like everything worked out as planned.
“It went really well, we were very happy with how smooth things ran,” said Steele. “We had so many performers all rushing around backstage and then they hopped out on stage and everybody performed very well.”
There were many other vocal and instrumental talents on display that night. The Skyline Concert Choir thrust the crowd into a holiday mood with their rousing performance of “Gospel Magnificant” led by conductor, Jude Navari and the soulful and charismatic soloist, Laura Hutton.
One of the big standouts of the night was Saxophonist Andrew Fenn. His multiple performances showed the bravado and soul of a seasoned Jazz musician. He could seamlessly go from accompanying a spoken word performance, to belting out “Watermelon Man” with the Jazz Quintet. We will be hearing many good things about this musician in the future.
The President’s Innovation Fund made this night’s performance and the recent improvements to the Skyline College Theater possible. The performing arts faculty would also like to remind any students interested in performing in the Spring Musical, Cabaret that they should sign up for DANC 665SJ and MUS. 667SM and students interested in working on the technical crew should sign up for DRAM 680SA.
To view a slideshow from the Performing Arts Showcase, click here.
To watch video, click here
For interviews, click here
Matt Pacelli and William Nacouzi provided additional information for this article.
