On Wednesday night, October 20 at 6:30 PM in the DAIS multipurpose room, high school choir classes and the musical theater class performed a variety of music for a packed house. The students worked hard to prepare some fun and challenging pieces in a short time.
The theme of the concert was “City of Stars… are you shining just for me?” This is a line from the famous song “City of Stars” from the movie musical La La Land. The broader theme of the concert was our human connection to the world around us, including relationships with nature, our city, other countries, our emotions, our past, our hopes, and our dreams. Mrs. Gifford encouraged the students to sing from their hearts and to bravely share their emotions with the audience.
Some of the most memorable moments in the concert were when the A1 class created the sound of a rainstorm and then sang the song “Africa” by the 1980’s pop group “Toto.” Seniors Richard Su and Judy Zhou performed the solos on the verses. Later, all the men from both classes performed the American folk song “Ching a Ring Chaw” with a rousing hoe-down feel which included claps and stomps. The ladies sang their hearts out on Carly Simon’s “Let the River Run,” accompanied by Jin Gang Lin on the piano, alongside Jack Wang, Alan Liang, and English Gao on percussion. The B4 class performed two really fun and difficult songs – “Just Be Happy” and “Somebody to Love” (by Queen) with amazing solo parts.
The capstone of the evening was a medley of five songs from the movie musical “La La Land” performed by our musical theater class. The audience was able to experience the broad range of emotions and stories told in each song. We look forward to seeing students perform a whole Broadway musical show in March!
Thank you so much to Mrs. Gifford and Mr. Bryant as well as to all participants for creating magical moments in song on that chilly Wednesday night.
