The spotlight shone center stage on Kennedy James ‘23, Cristina Albornoz ‘23, Mia Gonzalez Del Valle ‘23, Gala Jimenez ‘23, and Isabella Hassun ‘23 dressed as the former members of world-renowned boy group, One Direction. They introduced themselves as the emcees of the Talent Show by kicking off the night with a small comedic skit. 

Then, Carrollton’s very own High School drama teacher, Ms. Ordonez, took the stage to perform a beautiful, heart-breaking rendition of Adele’s love ballad, “When We Were Young.” Performing with her was Lyla Rufeh ‘26 who elegantly played the melody of the song on the piano. Ms. Ordonez filled the audience with nostalgia and heartbreak as she showed off her powerful vocals in the chorus and soothing honey-like side during the verses. This was a performance which sure enough kept replaying in my mind even after returning home. 

After another skit to introduce the next performance, Martina Santos ‘26, Victoria Rodriguez ‘26, and Ines Diaz ‘26 walked on stage to begin their cover of “Mamma Mia,” created by Swedish pop group Abba, and made popular by the movie and musical “Mamma Mia!” Santos covered the song with a soft and graceful vocal, as Diaz and Rodriguez accompanied her on the piano and acoustic guitar. Towards the end, even the crowd joined in and started clapping their hands to the beat of the song.

The following act was Vashti Johnson ‘25 with a beautiful cover of the song “Carried me with You” from Disney’s animated film, Onward. 

Another tear jerker came up next, only this time there were tears of laughter. The Carrollton Upper School Student Congress took the crowd back to the 80’s with cheesy, neon outfits and an energetic dance routine to the radio hits “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor, and “It’s Raining Men” by The Weather Girls. 

Next, yet another Disney animated movie cover was performed–the massively popular “How Far I’ll Go” from the movie Moana. Originally part of a duet, Claudia Oses ‘25 went solo singing as the crowd yelled with encouragement and clapped along as she performed.

Next up was Giulia Rocha ‘25 who not only played the part but looked the part! Giulia entered the stage with the iconic Judy Garland pigtail braids and a blue picnic-like top to resemble Dorothy from the original 1939 film, “The Wizard of Oz.” She echoed a similar singing style of Judy Garland while singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Another memorable performance from the night.

Isabella Perez-Compres ‘25 then covered the hit song “Sunroof” by Nicky Youre. Her performance of the song was very refreshing and gave off “summer” vibes for lack of better words. 

The final act before the 10-minute Intermission was a breathtaking acoustic cover of “Souvenir” by Julien Baker. Camila Aceituno ‘24 played the acoustic guitar and provided background vocals with Sofia Lee ‘24 leading the song with her soft, but moving voice. It was certainly a crowd favorite.

After the moving performance, the emcees came on to the stage to lighten the mood with a crowd game of musical chairs before announcing a brief intermission.

The second half of the show continued with a fresh, hip-hop dance performance by Kaia Heath ‘23 and Kennedy James ‘23. The crowd cheered with excitement watching Heath and James fill the auditorium with their energy.

Then emcees, once again, left the audience in stitches with their parody of the iconic song by Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” In this skit, the only thing funnier than their less-than-amazing vocals was the fact that throughout the cover, each and every member broke character and burst out into laughter. Yet another hilarious skit by the emcees from the night.

Kaia Heath ‘24 returned to the stage, only this time with Isa Fernandez ‘23, to perform a comedic bit. The two girls hilariously attempted and failed to play basic songs like “Mary had a Little Lamb” on the recorder. They failed so much so that even Fernandez’s father, when asked for a song request, laughably jumped up from the crowd and begged the girls to stop. Of course this was a part of the skit.

Alexandra Azan ‘23 included a crowd member as well when she asked a man in the audience to sit down as she sang him the song “Popular” from the Broadway musical, “Wicked.” This made the audience giggle at Azan picking this guy apart and trying to make him “popular”.

After all the comedic performances, Valentina Gomez ‘23 hit the audience with an emotional, lyrical dance. She left the crowd in awe of her grace and elegance as well as her very powerful kicks and turns.

The next performance was the senior class’ reenactment of a scene from the Barden Bellas’ performance from the famous comedy movie, “Pitch Perfect.” The lip synching and dance moves perfectly replicated that of the movie’s from the iconic scene.

The final act of the night came too soon. Pauline Stanham ‘23 performed a beautiful cover of the song “Hallelujah” originally written by Leonard Cohen. She was accompanied on the piano by Sofia Oliva ‘23. An amazing performance to end an amazing night.

Of course, the emcees came back to say their last goodbyes and invited all seniors on stage as this was their last talent show of their high school lives.