Newtown Youth Takes Center Stage At Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament

By Nancy K. Crevier

NEW HAVEN — It was a long day, Saturday, August 23, beginning with a morning rehearsal, and finding out the ins and outs of his upcoming performance, but when 12-year old Taylor Varga walked onto the center stage at the Connecticut Tennis Center in New Haven that evening, he forgot about the ESPN2 cameras trained on him and the millions of people watching, followed his singing instincts, and put forth a performance of “America The Beautiful” that made his parents, Joann and Tibor Varga, and the rest of Newtown, more than a little proud.

“I think it went really well,” Taylor said Monday morning as he reflected on the experience. “I was more nervous during the rehearsal and wondering what it would be like.”

Taylor was selected from hundreds of young people 12 years old and younger who auditioned August 7 for the honor of singing at the closing ceremony of the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament on August 23.

“We found out about it from a friend who saw the casting call on the Pilot Pen website the night before the auditions,” said Joann Varga, “so he didn’t have a lot of time to prepare. But he did a great job.”

“[Saturday evening] was the first time that I performed outdoors in a big stadium. Before I sang, they gave an introduction about me and what I’ve done, and about my hometown. It was exciting and cool to think about how many people were home seeing me on TV,” said Taylor.

The stadium at the Connecticut Tennis Center seats 13,500. Prior to Saturday night, his biggest audience was at The Palace in Waterbury, where he was featured soloist backed up by a 130-member chorus for “Christmas At The Palace.” There, he performed for a crowd of 2,400.

He has also performed in area productions the past several years, including Oliver, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, and Seussical, The Musical. He has performed in an NYU student production, and has auditioned for plays on Broadway, including Mary Poppins, just recently. But being selected to sing in a televised performance before a huge audience at the Pilot Pen Tournament was  an exciting moment for him, Taylor said.

His parents were on hand to see him perform, said Taylor, but his brother, Nick, caught his performance on television up at UConn where he had just returned for classes that day, and his brother, Zack, watched from home. 

“It went well,” said Taylor of his performance. “The audience was really responsive and after I was done singing, I was called back to take a bow. It really was exciting,” he said.

With school starting this week, singing will temporarily take a hiatus to learning, said Taylor, but he is riding high on his Pilot Pen experience for now.