FPU’s Next Great Star

by Katie Achilli
edited by Nalina Shapiro

Sophomores Anthony Marovelli and Derek Sensale’s audition tape will be viewed by talent agencies in New York and Los Angeles after they won 500 dollars and the title of America’s Next Great Star of FPU.

More than 60 people attended the talent show on Saturday, May 1st. The event was put on by Pierce Activities Council (PAC) and the show’s live presence resembled that of American Idol. At the end of the show, each viewer was able to text their vote for their favorite performer or performing group. Each performance was evaluated by a panel of three judges.

Marovelli and Sensale both played guitar and sang an upbeat, acoustic rock song together. They were chosen out of the final three competitors, which also included Sistuhs and musician Mattie Anderson.

Marovelli and Sensale had their own “posse” who showed up especially to support them. The judges said that “they had great energy and that they had the right look.”

Sistuhs performed a dance routine to the popular party song “TiK ToK”. The judges said “they were in sync and that they had killer attitude.”

Anderson performed as a solo act, playing acoustic guitar and singing a song called “Wrapped In Your Arms.” “I wasn’t really disappointed at all when I didn’t win. I had such a blast that it didn’t really matter,” she said. “I actually didn’t think I’d have as much fun as I did. It turned out to be a great experience. All of the guitarists, [Me, Brianna Bell, Mark French and Will Kelley, and Derek and Anthony] jammed backstage just about the entire show. It really was a lot of fun.”

Mark French and Will Kelley also performed as a guitar-playing duo. The Raven Thunder dance team had two costume changes and a solo dancer.

Brianna Bell played guitar and sang, and she had the audience in tears. Ricardo Gassant rocked bright purple pants as he sang the song “Chasing Pavements.” Melissa Dymek played piano as Jenn Wagner and Michael Brown sung an Andrea Bocelli duet. “My experience with the talent show was a lot of fun,” said Brown. “I felt like my performance personally was really good, I basically feed off of the audience anytime I perform, and the audience was awesome last night. As a group though I thought we put on an awesome performance.”