Thirteen hopefuls sang, acted and made magic at the first The Creative Edge talent show put on by the Kaatza Lakeside Players at Centennial Hall this past Saturday (Nov. 23).
Amanda Nixon won first prize after singing “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Second place went to Sara Ferguson, who sang “Glitter and Gold,” penned by X-Factor runner-up Rebecca Ferguson. Rhonda Vertefeuille won third prize after singing a number from Les Miserables.
An audience of about 175 voted with their ballots for the top entertainer in the first The Creative Edge talent show put on by the Kaatza Lakeside Players. The first prize was advertised as $500.
Lindsay Anderson of the Kaatza Lakeside Players was excited to be able to invite some of the multi-talented local kids to perform on stage in a Canada’s Got Talent-style showcase. She was hoping for more participants though.
“I know some people wanted to audition but didn’t feel they were ready since we only announced it in October,” she said.
She is hopeful they will do another contest next year with a little more lead time.
With only four weeks of pre-production, the group gave the 13 entertainers a chance at the $500 prize money in a People’s Choice award show. Singing, acting and a magic show gave the audience two hours of top-notch entertainment.
The top prize of $500 was changed to the top three prizes.
“It was the kids themselves that decided to take the $500 prize money and change it to $300 for first prize, $150 for second and $50 for third,” said Anderson.
As the votes were being counted, local songstress and music teacher Mary Egan Popovich took to the stage to sing a song from her latest album.
Because of a change in the board of directors at the Kaatza Lakeside Players Society, a fall theatre production was not staged and the group decided to put on the talent show instead.
The Kaatza Lakeside Players have announced they will be putting on their spring show, and it will be The Wizard of Oz. They took this opportunity to scout some new talent for that production, for which auditions start Sunday, Dec. 1.