By Camille Christophel (December 8, 2003)

The annual Junior Variety Show was wonderful Thursday night.  In two acts, the audience could see about twenty performances.  Friday’s show was postponed due to bad weather and has been rescheduled for Thursday, Dec. 18.
 

The show opened with the Jazz Band, 19 students playing saxophone, trumpet, trombone, keys, bass and an amazing performance from the drummer Kellan Meador. The jazz band left the stage for senior Joseph Mauro He played the Third Movement from Beethoven. During 5 minutes, Joe dazzled people with his wonderful interpretation. It was completely amazing; we were like living in another era. Like if we put a cd in a player, and listening the entire cd. Sophomore Katie Gordan sang two songs, with her band.

From the group The Nu Bru, singer Matt  Meyer and guitarist Jacob Potapchuk rock  out to “Rock and Roll” by Led Zeppelin.

"Dreaming my Dreams" from the Cranberries and "Bound to Pack It Up" from the White Stripes. The band was made up of Mrs. Snyder, French teacher at GMHS, and four of her students. The teacher was on stage with her violin and the band played well. We had a marvelous performance from the sisters Arya and Soorya Namboodiri. It was an Indian Dance. The dancers were in traditional clothes. The clothes and the dance were gorgeous. Arya and Soorya had perfectly adjusted their steps on the music from the movie "Thakshak". That dance was touching, because it was so calm, so pretty. Moreover, from a foreign country and it was interesting to see a real dance from the country.

Lead singer Katie Gordon of the  After School Guitar Group sings  “Bound to Pack it Up” by the White Stripes.

Another duet, but a song this time, was performed next on the stage. Senior Sarah Snyder sang "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" from Bob Dylan. Senior Zack Barrett accompanied Sarah with his guitar. 

Two pretty voices, a calm song, the members of the audience were completely satisfied. Then Sarah Snyder left the platform on the stage. 

Zack sang and played a song from Pearl Jam, "Footsteps." An extraordinary performance. We could feel his presence with us and he seemed affected with the song, he was interpreting. 

Chad O' Hara came in one's turn, with three balls to juggle. He juggled according to the rhythm of the dance music. He wore nothing more than a Mason short, a tee shirt and his sunglasses. He combined humor and skill. It was interesting to see something like that, different from the others acts.Chad was concentrated, made his audience laugh, and surprised them.

Come back with the music, with sophomore Christina Parson. She sang a song from her repertoire. She has such a great voice, clear, soft.  In addition, the song she picked was so beautiful. A touching moment.

Before the interval, seniors Arya Namboodiri and Mary Ryan sang a song from the Cranberries "Linger." Next on stage came seniors Lisa Collins, Whitney Lemke and Annie Wanlund, the girls did a funny dance. Girls joked about it and the smiles were sharing in the rows of the audience.

After the 10-minute interval, the guitar class played three songs, conducted by Mrs. Snyder, the teacher of that class. The first song "Riders on the Storm" from the Doors was played with 14 acoustic guitars, 1 bass and 1 djembe. The same thing for "About a Girl" from Kurt Cobain, but with Katie Grossman and Carmen Riech singing. 

For the guitar class's last song, the guitarists Jesse Wilson, Blaine Eakes and Matt Camp, the bassist Omar Tanamly and Kim Wilson on the djembe played "Watermelon Man" from Herbie Hancock. Mrs. Snyder could be proud of her students. It was beautiful so many guitars together.

Billy Gallagher came on stage to play a comedy. He put the audience in his pocket. It is the "Crazy Billy" we found on stage. He approached about the soundtracks, the watches, Matrix. He was funny and simple. He seemed to feel good on stage, like home, comfortable. 

Next, we had a movie, made by John Tyson. Three images, each one showing something different. A deck, a guy and a small rail. It was very artistic. John showed a lot of reflection; each image was on the same rhythm with the dance music. John made the entire movie and added music from Cylob.

Junior Dan Burkey arrived on stage, dressed up with a black suit and had in his arm a Kermit the Frog soft toy. He sang and played the piano to "Rainbow Connection".

Seniors Sarah Snyder and Claire Smalley interpreted with Mr. Ballou, playing on the djembe, an amazing version of "Fever" from the singer Eva Cassidy. The both voices were magnificently tuned together. We could feel the solidarity between the two friends. What a great moment!

A wonderful duet left to receive another as well as they were.

Senior Lucine Sargsyan and "her band". She came with her sister Helen. Lusine was gigantic. She surprised everyone with the tone of her voice..The sisters were applauded loudly and they merited it.

Another sketch came up, "The Penguin," played by Lisa Collins, Annie Wanlund and Chad O' Hara. The trio made us laugh. The girls were in costume, Chad was a television, the lines were known.

Good performance from the revival of the British show "Monty Python."

The last band and performance to go on stage moved the audience with the performances from led Zeppelin and Allman Brothers. 

Senior singer Matt Meyer was impressive. We discovered he has a great voice. He set fire to the stage. The excellent performance was as good because of the others players too.Jacob Potapchuk (guitar), Andrew Phelps (bass) and Andrew Campanelli (drums).The singer Matt Mayer was ready to keep going for another song but the time was gone. The first night of the JV show 2003 had to finish.

The JV show was with a high level. People that night said that they really enjoyed it. They even said, "It was the best JV show we’ve ever seen". The GMHS students worked hard for it and their work paid.