Prospect High School in Mt Prospect, Illinois, premiered the first-ever virtual edition of its widely known “Prospect’s Got Talent” show Friday, and in a 47-minute revue format, we saw an English teacher as a piano prodigy, a Shakespeare soliloquy, a robot rumble, a card trick, and much more.
English teacher Joyce Kim performs Robert Schumann’s “Soaring” (school screenshot)The show is expected to be available on the theater website through Thanksgiving, although private hosting such as this is likely to encounter lags and severe buffering as the web server reloads content from the video.
To begin the show, English teacher Joyce Kim performed “Soaring,” a piece for piano composed by Robert Schumann in 1837. It is the second number in a suite of eight short pieces for piano, opus 12 of the German composer’s work, and is originally titled “Aufschwung” (literally, upswing). The composer dedicated the opus to Fräulein Anna Robena Laidlaw, an accomplished 18-year-old Scottish pianist with whom he had become good friends.
That was followed by a musical coronavirus message from sophomore Maria Anzalotti, who wrote a cover based on Plain White T’s “Hey There, Delilah.”
Please wear a mask, because
I really want to go
Back to school someday instead of having
Classes on my phone from my bedroom
I’m getting sick and tired of Zoom….
But I’m not going
Unless I know we’ll be safe
We could get out of this I promise
Please just cover up your face….
Other acts followed, including a display of artwork by a spelling champion, a well-harmonized freshman trio, and a solo piano performance of Louis Armstrong’s “It’s a Wonderful World.”
“We feel lucky to have been able to bring a show to you from the comfort of your own home,” one of the hosts said at the conclusion of the show. “With everything that’s been going on, we sincerely appreciate all the support that’s been given to the fine arts community.”
