Talented students at WHS will get their chance in the spotlight at the annual talent show. As a way to finish up Winter Week 2018, students will showcase their gifts in music and other acts on Friday, Feb. 2.

Two sessions will be held during third block, each 55 minutes with 16 acts. Half of the school will go to the first session and the other half to the second. Students who have volunteered to perform will show their classmates what they can do. Each act is supposed to be under 5 minutes, but most acts are three to four minutes. Most performances involve singing, but there are other acts, such as Geoffrey Wang’s Chinese yo-yo performance.

Part of putting on a good show for students is making sure everything goes according to plan and making sure everyone works well together. It takes a lot of preparation and focus to combine all of these elements together and senior Melinda Kalanzis, the talent show director, has been working hard on getting the talent show ready.

“We have an amazing tech crew here and they have been rolling with it. I have everyone practice so I can time it and come up with an order,” Kalanzis said. “They are really fantastic and I’ve worked with them before so we have a good understanding.”

Although many students are performing in duets or a group, some students, such as sophomore Daniel Ryu, are performing solo. Ryu will be singing a comedy song called Lower Your Expectations and will be playing the piano. Ryu is only slightly nervous because he has gone up in front of big crowds before and has been practicing a lot.

“I am excited, but there [are] definitely going to be some nerves that are going to come,” Ryu said. “I’ll be performing in front of a bunch of people, but I am used to this kind of thing. I do a lot of public speaking.”

Other performers also mentioned that they are struggling to find time to prepare, even with the two rehearsals set up by Kalanzis. This is putting stress on the some of the performers. Junior Gage Fuller will play the piano and senior Anitta Thomas will sing “Photograph” by Ed Sheeran.

“We practiced once with each other and we are going to practice again tomorrow night probably, which is not a lot and I’m freaking out,” Thomas said. “I’m in a cappella, but it’s not the same because a cappella is a bunch of girls, your friends, and at the talent show it’s just me and Gage, [who] is playing the piano. I can’t even see his face. I’m really nervous because I feel like I am going to mess up, but I’m a senior, so I don’t really care.”

Despite the performers’ concerns, Kalanzis believes everyone is ready to have a great performance.

“I think we are well-prepared,” Kalanzis said. “I think everyone’s done a really great job getting ready. Everyone has been super nice to work with, I haven’t had any issues at all.”

Kalanzis is confident that with the hard work and dedication of the performers, this year’s show will be great.

“The performers are really, really good and we have all of our classics this year as well, so I think people are really going to like it,” Kalanzis said.

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