MCHS choir dazzles crowd on Senior night
Senior night choir show. (Photo: Logan Cheriff, The Puma Prensa)
By Logan Cheriff, staff writer
“Choir,” as defined by senior and long-time member of the MCHS choir Will Mosier, is “a place where you can come together to create—where you can be purely in the moment, it’s just a completely present thing that can’t be recreated anywhere else.” On April 28, the choir department put on its last production of the year. It was sad, happy, beautiful, and had to have been the best choir show I’ve seen in Carrillo's history.
The show opened with a ceremony presenting corsages to seniors accompanied by their families but moved quickly into the first performance of the night by group The 7 Medley Sins. “It Don’t Mean a Thing” stood out for the song's technical difficulty. As Sins member Senior Ellie Acosta put it, “Being in the group and singing at such a high caliber of music has really pushed me as a musician, and I feel like I’ve been able to improve both my singing abilities and technical music skills” The 7 Medley Sins have been working on this set since November, so a lot of blood sweat and tears have gone into perfecting the performance. “Corcovado,” a bittersweet love ballad sung in Portuguese, was incredible to see performed. Singing in another language is no easy task. Still, Senior Isabella Limper, who speaks Portuguese, said the pronunciation was “accurate” and “It was really nice hearing a song that’s a part of my culture sung in front of an audience.” The song “Spain” was described by Sins member Senior Bella Zarate as “the hardest song on the set…[it] was not only difficult because three of the vocal parts were written for male voices, but also because of the speedy rhythms and syncopation. It was a lot of hard work. Stopping, starting, adding, and dropping parts to get it to work. But the outcome was so worth it.”
Also featured in the first half of the show were Bass Choir, The TABS, and Bowers Garden. A few stand-out songs included “Workin’,” “Sister Sadie,” and “All or Nothing at All.” One in particular, “The Big Bad World,” written by The Plain White T’s for their 2008 album of the same name, discusses the idea that “if an individual spends too much time worrying in life, they will miss the adventures waiting for them,” choir member Sean Nash wrote in the program notes. Another standout song, “A Capella in Acapulco,” was described by Nash as a piece with a “tropical feel, transporting the audience into a world filled with travel and luxury.”
Along with outstanding performances all around, the show stood out for having a unique flow that kept the audience entertained the whole time. After intermission, they jumped right into a relaxed acoustic guitar performance featuring senior Gemma Ahern, Ellie Moeller, and Emaline Rickets, who sang “Ketchum ID,” by Boygenius. This short song perfectly framed the rest of the night and set the mood again after intermission, swiftly reimmersing the audience.
Then they went quickly into the Treble Choir’s performance, followed by the Quintentionals and the Chamber Singers. Treble Choir finished their set with “Forget About The Boy” with soloist Maren Negri. A song from the 2002 Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie that was an impressive listen and outstanding performance. The Quintentionals switched up the pace by introducing some barbershop-style songs, including “I Love That Old Barbershop Style” and “Hello Mary Lou.” Their fun outfits and flashy personas added a nice touch to the show. After the Chamber Singers’ performance, the show finished with some awards to a pair of departing seniors for their commitment and dedication to the choir department. Awards were given to both seniors, Emily May and Stephen Donlon. It was heartfelt and emotional, and as the show ended, everyone embraced and wished each other well, as this was the last show at Carrillo for many who’ve been a part of the choir for their entire time at Carrillo.