The time had come. The show must go on. And Brennan Korshavn was eager to bring it.
He stepped to the stage, clenched the microphone, drew it to his lips and let it flow.
Who am I, that the bright and morning star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart?
Sporting a black suit, Korshavn didn’t wander from the white chair in which he sat during his performance. However, when he stood to exit the stage, it was clear that the energy from the applauding audience unchained an incomparable joy in his heart.
That was just first of many acts during the finale of the Beacon College Performance Club — where students are free to channel their inner Beyoncé, Baryshnikov or (Lenny) Bruce.
About 40 students and others gathered inside the Student Center April 15 to watch performers entertain during a show that was part “American Idol” with a dash of “So You Think You Can Dance? and “America’s Got Talent.”
Performers included Brennan Korshavn; Yendis Collie; Aaron Lagunoff; Grady McGill; Hugo Potts; Danielle Bannister; Alana Simon; Dan Monahan; Brianna Quilla; Taylor Creech; Lucas Stewart; Tyriq Davis; and Nathan Korell.
“It was fun to help them in the practices and I was happy to see all the practice pay off,” said Eleanora Moore, Performance Club president.
Then there was the dynamic duo, Ethan Meus and Nathan Korell — the hosts with the most unique comedy stylings.
“We are not idiots,” Korell, a junior and club secretary, assured the audience after the first act. “We are very intelligent people.”
Still, it seemed not everyone was sold.
Introducing one act, Meus, a senior and club vice-president threw a scare into campus security:
“Do you guys like pyrotechnics?”
The variety show (mercifully) was short of rockets’ red glare. Still, plenty of fireworks erupted as Lagunoff belted out Shakira’s “Try Everything” with lyrics that hit home.
Birds don’t just fly; they fall down and get up
Nobody learns without getting it wrong
McGill cranked out a rollicking version of Florida Georgia Line’s “This is How We Roll.”
What some lacked in melody they more than made up in gusto.
As Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” blared, Bannister punched, kicked, glided and undulated across the performance space in a spirited dance as though the tune too was her fight song, her life song.
Monahan, elegant in a black suit, revisited the old school, serenading coeds with Chris de Burgh’s “Lady in Red:”
The lady in red is dancing with me, cheek to cheek
There’s nobody here, it’s just you and me
It’s where I want to be
Once the applause faded for Monahan, Korell didn’t miss a beat:
“Isn’t our next performer a lady in red?”
Indeed.
Quilla, in a ruby red blouse, seized the mic, and made The Band Perry’s “If I Die Young” her own.
If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in a river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song
Even when for some singers the lyrics went AWOL, the audience shouted encouragement and wildly applauded, giving performers the strength to go on.
Performing, Moore says, not only is fun, but also “shows that anyone can do anything.” It provides “stress relief from finals and actually builds up their confidence, to be honest. … We wanted to make it actually enjoyable and I hoped everyone did enjoy it.”
The first rule of Performance Club is “You do not have the blues when involved with Performance Club.”
The second rule of Performance Club is “You can sing the blues, if you like, when involved with Performance Club.”
Though on this triumphant night, no one really did.