After the Freshiors were declared the winners of SING! for the first time in years at the end of Saturday night’s performance, there was a great deal of elation, shock, and grief. SING 2015 proved to be just as big of a success as previous years, in spite of the difficult scheduling that caused a major overlap in school events. Premiering on Friday, November 20 and stretching on to Saturday, November 21, the performances from both Freshiors and Semores astounded the audience members.

Freshman Deborah Kong “assumed it would be a random play, but [realized] the dancing and singing were actually really good.”

One of the Freshior directors, Jillissa Drayton, explained the motivation behind the Freshior triumph, stating, “It’s a lot more hours, it’s a lot more dedication, and that’s what I really stressed to everyone in Freshior SING. I told them that we need to make everyone in the audience believe that we are so much more than just a one hour performance.”

This year’s SING prompt centered around Pixar characters who secretly rule the world while helping a friend deal with amnesia. Freshior and Semore plot lines were similar in several aspects, with both groups choosing The Incredibles and Monsters Inc. as their Pixar groups, making Boo (from Monsters Inc.) the friend with amnesia, and developing a relationship between Boo and Dash (from The Incredibles).

However, common ground between the two performances facilitated the process of identifying creative differences and individual highlights that have allowed both Freshiors and Semores to present their staggeringly unique talents. These talents did not go unnoticed by audience members.

Sophomore Kyra Singh remarked, “It was really amazing. There was a lot of talent, and both groups had great singers and dancers.”

Many audience members believed the Freshiors deserved the victory, though everyone agreed that both groups performed well. Freshman Nowshin Arif believed that “the Semores had good dancing, but the Freshiors had much better acting and singing.” While there was no doubting the fact that the Semores had just as much talent and effort in their performance as the Freshiors, most of the complaints from the audience referred to the confusing plot of the Semore performance and the use of relatively few props.

The Semores were, more or less, graceful in defeat, albeit disappointed over their loss. Senior performers were especially upset, with Jasmine Brite stating, “It was our final show, our last shot to give it our all.” Sophomore performer Zayyan Alamgir described the aftermath of the Semore defeat: “It was hard to keep spirits up after that because it just made everything seem like it went to waste.” Fortunately, most of the performers were able to view the bigger picture, as Zayyan ended on a positive note, saying, “we realized the most important thing was that we all had fun.”

Delving behind-the-scenes of SING, words such as “family” and “bonding” can be heard from any member of the two performances. Junior Gleb Zavlanov, who played the Freshior Mr. Incredible, believed “the best part of SING was the warmth and comfort that you feel when you’re performing with your peers.” Sophomore performer Daniella Babayev agreed with this sentiment, stating that “the best part of SING was definitely the people.”

Freshmen performers especially emphasized the beauty behind the SING experience, describing the almost instantaneous sense of familiarity upon joining the schoolwide performance. Freshman dancer Tyler Conway expressed his appreciation of SING for allowing him to “[make] a bunch of new friends,” while freshman performer Melanie Esterine stated, “there’s nothing that I would change about [SING].”

The anxiety present while staging the show didn’t interfere with the bonding between both groups, but rather strengthened it. Senior performer Jasmine Brite described the support radiating from each group, even during the performances, stating, “I loved walking off-stage and hearing all the whispered ‘good jobs’ from the giant singing groups that we all formed during free time before the show.”  

Even as the THHS community anxiously awaits next year’s installment of SING, there is no doubt that SING! 2016 will live on within the hearts of the audience members as well as the performers who shed their blood, sweat, and tears for a truly unforgettable experience.