Middle School Students Take Time Out For Some Fun

By Susan Coney

Despite the fact that school was still in session one day before Christmas Eve, the students at Newtown Middle School managed to have lots of fun the last day before holiday break by holding their seventh annual talent show. Forget about aspiring to be on shows such as American Idol and Star Search, these young musicians, singers, dancers, and comedians just wanted to have a good time entertaining their friends and classmates.

The talent show — under the direction of teachers Will Ryan and Paul Esposito — is only open to performers in the eighth grade. The kids get psyched up for weeks preparing acts that range from the traditional to the outrageous. Abbie Branchflower played tunes on her harmonica as her German shepherd sang along, for instance. Perhaps one day Abbie and her canine pal will get their chance on The Letterman Show performing pet tricks, for they were a big hit with the NMS audience.

Another show-stopping act was performed by friends Ben Miles and Nahba Broplah. The pair sang the James Brown hit “I Feel Good,” which brought the audience to their feet.

“We were walking down the hall singing one day when the teachers in our cluster told us we should sign up for the eighth grade talent show,” said Ben. “No one was really signing up to be in it. Once we signed up everyone else started to sign up, too.”

Other acts featured Patrick Shirley playing the piano and singing Billy Joel’s “Piano Man,” and Mike Tuccio riding a unicycle across the stage as he told jokes. Another act found teacher Sue Lang on stage playing the piano as Bianca Crudo sang “I Enjoy Being A Girl.”

Technical education teacher Don Ramsey, who acted as the show’s emcee, added to the excitement with his enthusiastic introduction of each performer. Behind the scenes, eighth grader Nick Wolf performed backstage magic by orchestrating the light effects to enhance the show.

The two-hour program gave student performers a chance to show off their talents, provide a little holiday entertainment, and have a little fun, all at the same time.