American Autumn was a two day performance which took place at Carolina Forest on October 25 and October 26. Our Carolina Forest Show Choir and Chorus performed many hits from the last few decades. They performed highlights from various movies and global stars, such as “Glee,” “Hairspray,” Beyonce, Lady Gaga and many more! They also had a dedication to our veterans to honor them for their dedication and fearlessness to serve and protect our country.
The members of our CFHS Show Choir and Chorus planned, practiced and perfected their parts and performances for the show. American Autumn and all the shows that are performed by our arts department took hours of planning and persistent practicing to get them ready to be shown to the general public. “ Time warped” was a part of the performance that really got the crowd excited. The energy both on the stage and within the crowd filled the room and made the performance truly stand out from all the rest.
Many of the songs were performed in groups, but there were some members of the show choir who performed solos. All of the performers who performed solos were Riley Hinz ( “Rolling In The Deep”), Izzy Liptak (“Breakaway”), Faith Vahaly ( I’m Still Standing), Justin Cox (“This Night”), Keegan Bridgeman (“ Part Of Your World”), Cora Collier (“On My Own”), and Bella Gross ( “Don’t Rain On My Parade”). They all did fantastic with their solos!
Kraig McBroom, the Chorus teacher here at CFHS, provided information about how the shows for show choir and chorus themes and music are selected.
“The theme of each show is pretty much dictated by the songs I have chosen or the time of year the show is going to be presented. For example, our holiday show is called “Holiday Spectacular!” Every May, once we have finished with our ShowStoppers Spring Shows, I begin to listen to all of the newest vocal arrangements/compositions that are written for choir and/or Broadway shows. Sometimes there can be more than one arrangement of the same song, so I have to decide which vocal arrangement would work the best for the singers involved. Normally, once we get into June, I pretty much know what songs would work best for the student singers I have to work with.”
McBroom also provided the information on the choreography for the shows and who helps to teach the choreography.
“ShowCase works with choreographer Erica Pike. They normally spend one week with Erica during the summer to learn most of their fall show choreography. Once school begins, she works with the show choir during their 2nd block class time, and on Thursday afternoons.
Our Women’s Choir is choreographed by Alex Ilkhani. Alex graduated from CFHS eight years ago and works both as a choreographer and as a wedding planner.
McBroom is incredibly proud of how the students performed their show. He also mentioned that 27 seniors graduated from their CF last year and that most of them were boys. This left them with a big gap between the girls and boys they could use in their performances, but he is very proud of the boys who performed for American Autumn and how they are still looking to recruit more boys for showcase for the second semester.
“We still need to recruit additional male singers/dancers who are willing to jump in for the 2nd semester. If anyone reading this is interested, please stop by the chorus room and let me know. We can always use additional male and female singers/performers for the 2nd semester, beginning in January,” commented McBroom.
The CFHS Show Choir and showcase take pride in their shows and performances. The American Autumn was no exception, Showcase and show choir really out did themselves once again! Don’t forget to checkout Showcase’s Christmas show, “Holiday Spectacular!” on December 12-14! You can purchase tickets at cfhsperformingarts.com!
