North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
By John Smithson
While I usually use newspaper ink to summarize a variety of sports and athletic events, my attendance at the NMB High School’s annual Picnic Concert last Thursday evening once again gave me the opportunity to celebrate the school’s performing arts programs.
While football and marching bands often go together, having an entire school’s performing arts department perform at The Hank on a warm spring evening is a challenge. That challenge was met and exceeded by the hundreds of talented performers who entertained an appreciative audience of parents and fans in the bleachers.
The Director of Musical Theatre Lindsay Link, Band of Chiefs director Peter DiLeo and the school’s director of the orchestra Timothy Pelltier, are responsible for energizing a performing arts department that continues to celebrate music (all kinds), song, choreography, dance, and musical theatre.
Link was the emcee for the evening, introducing the different musical performances and joining her chorus when they sang “Jolene,” complete with cowboy hats. DiLeo’s band didn’t march but moved the audience with “Chorale and Shaker Dance,” music from “Stranger Things,” and music from “Avatar.”
Pelltier’s orchestra performed “Fantasia on an Original Theme,” the theme from “Jurassic Park,” “Green Rythmico,” “Baila Conmigo,” and music from ”La La Land.”
The chorus performed “Seize the Day” from the show “Newsies,” “We Are Young,” “Found/Tonight,” and “Dies Irae,” and the aforementioned “Jolene,” as well as a medley of songs from “Glee.”
The theatre group from the school’s production of “Sponge Bob the Musical” danced and sang “Bikini Bottom Day, “Abracadabra,” and “Super Sea Star Savior.” They also performed “Fire,” “When the Going Gets Tough,” a “Disney Medley,” and “Little Shop of Horrors.”
The jazz band, made up of musicians from the band and orchestra director Pelltier, got the audience moving with “Tank” from Cowboy Bebop, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor,” “Save the Last Dance for Me,” and “Rhythm is Gonna Get Ya.”
The finale was an all-hands-on-deck performance of “For Good” from “Wicked.”
The list of numbers and songs performed does not mention the soloists in vocal performances, instrumentalists featured in band and orchestral arrangements and the student choreographers who arranged many of the performances.
The concert was as defined: a live, public performance of music by one or more musicians, singers or instrumentalists. Throw in singing, dancing and acting by a team of talented students and you have an evening that reflected the high level of the performing arts at North Myrtle Beach High School and a tribute to the effort and commitment by those students.
If you missed it you should try to attend next year, or even better keep up with the progress of the various performances by these kids throughout the academic year. They would love to see you at a concert or play or performance. You won’t be sorry.
The Chiefs of Polka Band presented a few polka numbers prior to the Picnic Concert last Thursday. Isaiah Daniels, William Owen, Kohlton Rosati, Charles Kilgore, Trevor Carter, Dillon Hill and Jarrett Floyd were Band of Chiefs members who performed.
The Chiefs of Polka Band presented a few polka numbers prior to the Picnic Concert last Thursday. Isaiah Daniels, William Owen, Kohlton Rosati, Charles Kilgore, Trevor Carter, Dillon Hill and Jarrett Floyd were Band of Chiefs members who performed.
